


Second Life

by TeitoxAkashi



Series: The Historian [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Chapter 80 has slight sexual content but not detailed at all, Completed on Wattpad, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, I'm not going to edit it because it's Far Too Late, Multi, Shounen-ai, it's cringy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-03-25 12:30:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 81
Words: 364,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13834326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeitoxAkashi/pseuds/TeitoxAkashi
Summary: One day, a girl aged 16 suddenly passed away in the middle of the night. The cause of her death was unknown. But, her soul along with her 16 years of memories, transferred to the world of Katekyo Hitman Reborn, an anime series in her world, and was reborn as a boy.





	1. Beginning of the Second

She vaguely remembered that she was waiting for her brain to succumb to sleep around 11.30 p.m at night. At the back of her mind, she wondered what was happening, what was this feeling. It's like she's slowly falling, drowning even, into this deep dark void. It wasn't like the usual feeling of falling down in her dreams that usually immediately shook her up. No. It's not.

Her eyes slowly opened. Her mind still muddled, half aware of what was happening. It was pitch black. Nothing. She saw nothing. Not even her own body. Starting to get a bit sober, she blinked. 'What the-'. Suddenly, she was floating. Not exactly but she felt like she was floating up. And she blinked again.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Right on 11.34 p.m at night on the 6th of October, a boy was born. His cries filled the surgery room as the nurses and doctor congratulated the woman. 27 minutes later, on 12.01 a.m, which already encroached the 7th of October, another boy's cries joined the first.

\------------------- **5 years later** \------------------------------

"Ryuu-kun! Yuu-kun! Come down for breakfast!!" A chorused yes was shouted from upstairs. The mother of the twins smiled as she placed the breakfast on the dining table. The father walked into the room, looking at a camera. "Kei, look at where you're going. You'll hit something" Shiroki Kei looked up sheepishly and lovingly at his wife, Shiroki 'Natsume' Sakura.

"Sorry. Can't help it" Sakura giggled. "Nervous much?" She leaned up slightly and pecked Kei on the lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "It's not even your big day" 

"I'm just simply checking if the camera works fine... Though, I must admit.. They're growing up too fast!! It felt like it was just yesterday when they're just toddlers...." He pouted, placing his chin on her shoulder. She giggled again. "It is, isn't it.." She placed her hands on top of her husband's. Their wedding rings shone.

"Good morning, Papa, Mama!!" Twins of five years of age, dressed up in their uniform, ran into the room and towards their parents, giving them a hug.

The two adults smiled and returned their greetings. 

"Are you two excited?" Kei bent down to the same eye level as theirs' and pat them both on the head gently. One with shorter dark brown hair that could be easily mistaken as black hair nodded with much enthusiasm while the other one, with slightly longer dark brown hair tied up into a small pony tail nodded slightly, but was happy nonetheless. 

The shorter haired one which goes by the name Shiroki Yuuichi, is the younger twin. The longer haired one goes by the name Shiroki Ryuuichi, is the elder twin. The younger was expressive, a tad bit hyper even. The older was more passive and calm, but a smile never fails to lighten up on his face. Both the exact polar opposite, yet they're somewhat the same. 

"Well, let's eat breakfast! The both of you don't want to be late right?" Sakura said, as both Kei and her helped their children up the chairs.

\---------------------------------------------------------

"Ne, Papa. What's the name of this town?" Ryuuichi asked. He scanned the neighbourhood as the whole family walked side by side. He stood on by the right hand side of the younger twin, who was chatting excitedly with their mother. The twins carried similar backpacks. The only difference was that Ryuuichi's backpack was black with white stripes while Yuuichi's was white with black strips. It's the first day of kindergarten. All of them were excited except for him. Slightly baffled that he'll have to go through kindergarten, again.

'To think that I've to tolerate and wait for 5 years before I could even ask where I live.... 'Ch' 

"This town we live in is called Namimori, Ryuu" The said child's eyes widen as he abruptly stopped his track. The three others stopped and stared at him.

"Ryuu(-kun)?" He quickly smiled at them, saying that it's nothing and they continued their journey. 'Namimori?! Does it even exist on the map of Japan!?' He absentmindedly chatted with his current family as he brainstormed. 'Holy shit. Namimori doesn't exist!! DOES THAT MEAN I'M IN KHR WORLD!?!?? WHAT EVEN?!?'

His train of thoughts were immediately broken when Sakura and Yuuichi squealed happily at the sight of their kindergarten. They immediately posed with happy grins on their face. Ryuuichi let out an inaudible sigh at them but made no move to join them. Kei, who was standing beside him, was taking pictures of them. The older twin sweated lightly when he heard continuous clicks.

"Come on. Go stand with Mama and Yuuichi" His father pushed him on the back lightly when he finally realized that he wasn't joining. Sakura and Yuuichi were calling for him to join them at the background. He hesitated a little before giving up. 'Well, if you can't beat them, join them...' He walked up to them and stood by the side of his younger brother. A small but genuine smile appeared on his face.

Though, at the back of his mind, he wondered which timeline was he in but he was immediately answered at the sight of Yamamoto Tsuyoshi and a black haired boy with the same uniform and colour of scarf he had on his neck. It was the same colour as his, Red. 'That...Was not exactly what I was expecting...' 

He paid no mind when his father jumped towards Tsuyoshi, perhaps asking him to take their picture, as he continued staring at the younger Yamamoto. 'So I'm at the same age as Tsuna...' He smiled at the camera when his father, who suddenly popped out by his side, placing his hand on his shoulder and wrapping another around Sakura.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Apparently, Yamamoto wasn't in his class. While the twins were in Tulip Class, Yamamoto was in Sunflower Class. 'Well, it suit him... Somehow..' Beside him, Yuuichi was talking to a few other kids happily, immediately joined a circle. He smiled fondly at the sight of his happy twin. Before, when he was a she, 'Ryuuichi' had an older sister, with her being the youngest. 

But now, when he realized that he's the eldest child, he easily fell into the roll of a big brother despite having no experience. Even when he's only 3 at one time, he took care of Yuuichi when both Sakura and Kei are busy. It was a wonder that a 3 years old toddler be able to take care of another one like he was 10. Sakura and Kei noticed that Ryuuichi was more matured than normal children. He gave off a late teenager's vibe.

"Ryuuichi-kun?" His train of thoughts was broken once again, but by a teacher this time. Jun was the name of the teacher. He was crouching to his eye level. He pushed back the annoyance that each person taller than 130cm do that to him and answered politely. "Yes, Sensei?" 

"Are you ok? Why aren't you joining the others to play?" He was clearly concerned.

'Play?' He scrunched up his nose a little before it disappeared when he saw the other kids running around here and there at the small playground the kindergarten had. 'Ah..' "I'm ok, Sensei. I'm just thinking about something" Jun was surprised at the boy. Normally kids of this age won't have much thought in their supposedly pure brain. He wasn't able to answer back when the kid ran up to his twin after bowing at the teacher.

'Maybe he's a genius child..'

\----------------------- **3** **years later** \--------------------

"Ryuu!! Hurry up!!" He heard Yuuichi shouted from downstairs. He sighed and shook his head at the impatient kid. "Alright!! Gimme a second!!" He quickly place a pack of bandages into his backpack and wore his socks before running down the stairs with his backpack in tow. He met up with his brother who brighten up when he saw his older brother and scrambled into the living room "Mom! Dad! Can we go out to play?!" The younger one asked for permission, with puppy eyes plastered on his face. The two adults laughed a little.

"Sure. Seeing that you've prepared already" Ryuuichi inwardly smirked. 'That's because we both know that you both won't say no' He exchanged a smug look with Yuuichi before running out of the living room to the door way and wore their shoes quickly. "We'll be going!!" Their parents answered with a "Be careful!!" 

They pushed out their bicycle, Ryuuichi's black while Yuuichi's white. Ryuuichi checked both bicycles' tyres pressure before they rode it. The two was immediately debuted as genius twin during their early school years. The now 8 years old Ryuuichi is a genius in academic aspect while Yuuichi is a genius in sports aspect, especially basketball.

Ryuuichi remembered that he introduced that sport to the younger one despite being not good at it. But, Yuuichi, being the prodigy he is, immediately mastered it. He became so good at it that he can go on an one on one with an adult. When they both entered Primary School at tender age of seven, Yuuichi, without a doubt, joined the basketball team. Ryuuichi joined the chess club and easily became the top of all. He even won against a teacher in it before. 'Well, you can't blame me when I've 4 years of experiences already.. Can you...?'

The two of them were cycling towards a basketball court nearby their house when they suddenly heard mocking laughters. Right in front of them, they saw brunette cycling a four wheeled bicycle. 

Ryuuichi's eyes widen when he saw the familiar gravity defying brown hair. The boy was trying to catch up with his friends who were mocking him about still using training wheels and yelling "Dame-Tsuna!!" at him. 'Could this be...' He remembered somewhere in the anime that the brunette was in this kind of situation. Beside him, Yuuichi was a bit disgusted at the sight, but not at the brunette. A sign that his strong sense of justice was activating.

Suddenly, the brunette fell. He exchanged looks with Yuuichi before cycling up towards the fallen kid. "Let's go"

They braked and went down. "Hey, are you ok?" He asked the tear stricken brunette. The kid only cried harder, obviously scared. 'Well, he was a bit shy when he was a kid if I'm not wrong..' "Ryuu.. He's injured..." Yuuichi whispered to him and only then did he saw his right knee was bleeding.

"Right." He rummaged his backpack and got out a large bottle of water and a handkerchief. He poured a some water onto the handkerchief with the help of Yuuichi. He took the wet handkerchief and turned towards the still crying kid. "Hey, it's ok." He gently wiped away the tears with his long sleeves. The kid sniffed, but stopped crying nonetheless. 

Ryuuichi smiled a little, felt relief. "It's gonna hurt a little so hold on, ok?" He grabbed the back of the injured knees, and cleaned the wound with the wet handkerchief, trying to be gentle as possible. The brunette flinched when pain shot up. He clenched his hands and shut his eyes tightly. Ryuuichi handed Yuuichi the handkerchief and took out the pack of bandages he brought along. 'Luckily I decided to bring this...' "Hold still.."

He placed the bandage over the wound with care. "Alright. You're ok now" He looked up and saw the kid still shaking. His eyes still closed and he noticed the brunette's hands were clenched so tight that his knuckles turned white. He grabbed those clenched fists and pried them open.

"Hey, everything's alright now" 

Slowly, the tension left the hands and eyes opened, revealing the lighter than theirs' brown eyes. Ryuuichi and Yuuichi smiled brightly at him. "Come on, stand up" They helped him up, Yuuichi dusted the dirt from his form while Ryuuichi asked for his name. "S-sawada Tsunayoshi... Age 8..." 'Wow it's really him. Cute~' 

"I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi, this is my younger brother, Shiroki Yuuichi-" Yuuichi smiled at him "-We're both 8 too" Ryuuichi paused. Tsuna nodded, still a bit shaken in Ryuuichi's eyes. "Can you tell me what happened?" Even though he already know the answer, he still asked nonetheless. "I-I accidentally hit the rock.." He pointed at the culprit. "Tsunayoshi-kun... Why did your friends call you "Dame-Tsuna"??" Yuuichi asked.

Ryuuichi shot a look at his twin when the youngest of the three flinched. "B-because Tsuna-kun is useless at everything.. That's why they called me "Dame-Tsuna".." 

Ryuuichi sighed inwardly. As he remembered, Tsuna was mediocre at mostly everything, but not useless. Slightly lower than average, but never useless. He inherited his mother's ditsy-ness. Ryuuichi's a little glad that he didn't inherited his father's idiocy. Nope. Not a good thing if he did. Sawada Iemitsu is an intelligent person, no doubt, but he's still idiotic. "Hey Tsunayoshi, you aren't useless. Remember that, alright?" 

He cupped the chubby cheeks and stared right into the brown orbs. 

"A-alright..." He smiled at that. "You can go back on your own right?" A nod was his answer. "Then we'll have to go." He gathered his stuff from the ground. His twin inspected the boy's bicycle. The brunette seem reluctant and sad that they're going. "U-umm!!" They both stared at him. "T-thank you..." He lightly bowed.

Ryuuichi smiled at him "Don't worry Tsunayoshi. We'll definitely meet again" He pat the surprisingly soft gravity defying hair, having a knowing look plastered. "Tsunayoshi, believe that you're strong. Believe that you're more than what you think you are" He gazed at Yuuichi, who said that there's nothing wrong with his bicycle. They both walked towards theirs' own and cycled away. Ryuuichi looked back and shouted "See you!!"

He and Yuuichi continued their way without turning around. "Hey Ryuu. You sure that it's alright leaving him there like that?" Ryuuichi smiled "Don't worry. Everything will be alright"

The younger one stared at his brother. The knowing look and anticipation confused him to no end. The fact that he said 'see you', rather than 'good bye' meant that they'll definitely meet again. He sighed. "Sometime I just couldn't seem to understand you and what's ever on your mind even though we're twins..." A pout was plastered on his face.

Ryuu laughed, but said nothing afterwards. 'Perhaps one day, Yuuichi. Perhaps one day, I'll say everything'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was debating on whether to post this here or not since it's completed already and it's too late to change anything, but well. 
> 
> I'm cringing so hard from this.
> 
> Completed on Wattpad= https:/ /www.wattpad.com/ story/ 57647002-second-life (Remove the spacing)
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar,spelling,etc.etc. mistake]


	2. Long Time No See

"I want to go to Namimori Middle School" Everyone stared at the almost 13 years old with dark brown hair, longer at the lower part, as if he had grown a second head. Even Yuuichi. They were all so sure that he'll definitely go to this prodigy school that he was scouted to, instead of this, average school of this town's. Being a top student of their Primary school, having to always getting straight 'A's and occasionally full marks for certain subjects here and there along with his whole career's and future's path shining upon him as clear as daylight, that, would be the least expected thing from him. To go to an average school. Heck it probably was never even on the list.

"R-ryuu? What are you talking about? Didn't you already accepted the scouting?"

"Sorry, Father. But I rejected it" They all looked at him as if he was joking but, he was dead serious. "I want to go to Namimori Middle" Sakura and Kei looked directly into his eyes, as if daring him to say it again. Despite that, he didn't back down and looked back at theirs' with firm resolve.

Sakura sighed, knowing that once her eldest son decided on something, he won't change it. "Alright-" Kei looked like he wanted to protest but gave up when his wife glared at him, promptly resigned on persuading his son too. "-But can you tell us why?" Even though she knew the perks of her sons, but she could never understand what was ever on the mind of the eldest. Not like anyone could anyway.

Ryuuichi smiled with the familiar, knowing look with hints of anticipation. "Thank you... It's because there's something I need to do at that school" 'And to be an audience to what will happen and to find answers' He wouldn't say that last bit. He couldn't. It's not because he's scared of rejection and made fun of. No. It's because the fact that he have memories from his previous life AND knowing the fact that this world doesn't exist. Who would believe him anyway?

He turned towards the surprisingly silent twin. He was usually hyper and he anticipated that he would shouted in protest and all. "Yuu, I know you wanted to go to that school really badly. So you don't have to follow me-"

"I'll go with you" Yuuichi interrupted him. His eyes firmed at the decision. Ryuuichi frowned. He really didn't think that his brother would want to follow him. "Why? You'll have a better and smoother way, not to mention it'll be fun-"

"It's true that I really wanted to go to that school.." "Then why-" His sentence was once again cut off. "But if you're not with me, I don't want to go there. It wouldn't be fun... And it's kind of lonely without you.." He looked at the youngest, disbelieved. Yuuichi could feel the stare boring holes at him and his cheeks heated up. He quickly added.

"B-besides!! How can you protect me when you're not with me!? Are you going to break your promise?!" He pouted, cheeks reddening even more with his brother including their parents.

"W-what!?!"

Ryuuichi suddenly burst, laughing out loudly. Sakura and Kei silently squealed at the adorable sight, seriously, the brotherly love between the two twins are so hilarious and cute that the two doesn't know how to take it. Ryuuichi slung an arm around his neck, pulling him into a headlock and rubbed his head with his free hand forcefully with a large grin. "Yes yes, Young Master~" Yuuichi yelped in pain, struggling to break away.

He had a fond smile. He suddenly remembered the incident 4 years ago that made him promise to protect his younger brother.

\------------------------ **4 Years Ago** \-------------------------------

A loud bang silenced the whole class. The students who were chattering loudly all looked at the cause of noise, all shaken. There was no teacher since it was a free period. Ryuuichi, who was writing something in his notebook, something that he usually do, looked up and towards the cause. His eyes widen at the sight.

"What the hell did you say you punk!!!" It was a senior judging by the colour of the tie he had. He was holding Yuuichi up by his collar, choking him at the same time. "I said, YOU'RE NO MATCH FOR US!!!" Yuuichi spat back at the senior.

The senior's face went red in anger. "That's it!!! YOU ASKED FOR IT!!" Ryuuichi saw red when a fist collided onto Yuuichi's cheek. He fell down onto the ground, cupping his bruised cheek, blood dripped from his cut lips. The senior was about to kick him when a leg slammed at the back of his head, making him bang into the chairs and tables. The students yelped in surprised and jumped out of the way. Yuuichi himself was surprised.

"WHO THE HELL DID THAT?!!?" The senior turned around, clutching his throbbing head. He shivered when he saw a furious dark brown hair boy, looked similar to Yuuichi minus the longer hair, looming down at him. A foot slammed just right beside his head. Ryuuichi bent down and grabbed the senior the same way he grabbed his brother, and tugged him upwards to meet him eye to eye, face inches away from his.

"Hey" The senior couldn't stop himself from shivering in fear at the venom dripping voice. He suddenly wished that there's a hole to swallow him up. "Who said you could hit my brother?" His voice is so low that everyone could feel the temperature dropping down a few degrees.

"I'll let you off if you beg for forgiveness" His dark brown eyes taunted him, daring him to do otherwise. "S-s-sorry!!! P-please forgive me!!!!" He gazed at Yuuichi, who stuttered an alright, not wanting to accidentally anger his snapped brother any further. He looked back at the shaking senior and smirk, quite evilly. "Too bad. I was planning to do this and that, ya know? How disappointing~"

His smirk fell and a death glare pierced right into his soul, scaring him so much that he's so sure that he'll have nightmares. "One warning though. If I see even a single hair of yours, trust me, I'll make you personally wish that you weren't born"

Frighten, officially and deeply traumatized, the senior squeaked out a yes and nodded frantically. Ryuuichi smirked internally but smiled oh so sweetly on the outside that scared the poor guy even further and he almost shitted himself. "Good. Now scram" The senior immediately ran away with his tail between his legs and out of the hell hole when he let him go. He turned around and saw the audience he had. Two teachers and their students from the neighboring classes, and opposite were outside of his classroom, all staring at him with great fear.

Even the teacher didn't dare to interrupt him. They even flinched when his gaze met theirs. 'Wow. Who knew I've this side... But first..' He paid no heed at them and walked towards his brother, who was still on the ground with eyes wide. He had never seen Ryuuichi this furious before. Maybe annoyed and irritated, but never like this. He was usually level headed and never gets angry at anyone. Even at those who accused of him cheating on tests.

He kept his eyes on his brother, no he wasn't afraid. He was more worried. When Ryuuichi crouched down in front of him and gently removed his hand from his cheek, he saw something foreign in his eyes. Fear? Concern? He don't know, nor get it. But that doesn't stop him from being worried.

"R-ryuu, you-" He flinched at the pain. He guessed that he must have accidentally bitten his inner cheeks. It hurts. "Don't talk." Ryuuichi said nothing more and helped him up. He was pulled out of the classroom, not before the older twin said that he'll bring him to the infirmary. The crowd outside immediately made way for them, even the teachers. Ryuuichi didn't even bothered to acknowledge their existence and simply went their merry way, except, it's not really that merry.

When they reached the infirmary, Ryuuichi literally slammed open the door, dragged Yuuichi in and closed the door. The school doctor jumped when the door was slammed twice. She turned to reprimand the culprit but the thought of doing so was immediately thrown out of the window when she saw Yuuichi's bleeding lips and bruised cheek.

She quickly patched him up, telling him to place the pack of ice on his cheek. During the whole time the school doctor was mother henning him, Ryuuichi stayed silent on a plastic chair. His eyes were shadowed by his bangs. Then the school doctor left, saying that she had some meeting to attend and left the twins in the infirmary by themselves.

"R-ryuu?"

The said boy was silent. He didn't answer him. Yuuichi's concern immediately shot up. "H-hey Ryuu! Are you alright...!" Ryuuichi stood up and stalked towards his twin who was sitting on a bed, scaring the daylight out of him, only to be wrapped up in a tight embrace. "Sorry.. Should've stop him earlier" He pulled away slightly to meet his twin's eyes. "You're ok, right?" Fear swirled in his eyes. Yuuichi, stunned and all, smiled at him. His arms wound around him and hugged him, ensuring him. "Yeah.."

"Thank goodness............ I promise.. That I'll protect you.. From any harm. I'll never let anyone hurt you again.."

Let's just say, from that day on, no one, by no means unless one wanted a death wish, not even the teachers, dared to even shout at the twins. 

\----------------------- **Present** \-----------------------

"Tsu-kun!! Wake you!! You'll be late!!" The day started with Sawada Nana waking up early in the morning, getting the newspaper from the mail box and making breakfast and lunch box for her only son, Sawada Tsunayoshi. After he goes to school, she would do house work or go out to buy some necessities. But this particular morning was slightly different. She would accompany her 13 years old son to his new school before going off to her friend's house, probably to have some mothers talk or something. 

A familiar shriek was heard along with loud rustlings and a loud thud. She sighed and shook her head fondly. She briefly wondered when will her clumsy son be able to stop depending on her.

"Ow ow ow...." Tsuna rubbed his forehead. He had fall face first off his bed after trying to get out, successfully tangled himself with his own blanket at the same time. The fact that he'll be late on his first day of school dawn him once again. He frantically scrambled to the bathroom, with his new school uniform in hand.

He was both excited, yet afraid. He hoped that he would be able to make friends, and erase his nickname "Dame-Tsuna". But dark thoughts quickly followed after the good ones. He sighed dejectedly, not wanting to raise his impossible expectation up further. He was sure that he'll be disappointed later. He had stop hoping for much after all these years.

"Good morning, mother" He greeted his loving mother, who greeted him back cheerily. "Good morning, Tsu-kun~ Are you excited?" He sighed for the second time. "Not really"

They had small talks here and there, Nana asking questions and him answering back. It was quite a normal morning actually. Though, he didn't realized it wasn't until he was right in front of the school gate. His mother was squealing at the sight.

"Oh my~!!"

"Geh..." There were booths and banners and students everywhere. The second and third years were all trying to recruit the freshmen into their club. The crowd was so packed that one would need a shovel to move, or a bulldozer as the matter of fact. He talked, more like begging, to her mother for a few more moments before Nana decided to leave. He was relieved. He definitely didn't want anyone to see her mother henning him. 

He then wondered. How the hell can he move pass the crowd. He didn't have any plan to join any clubs. He was basically below average at everything anyway. He stood in front of the gate for a few moments, thinking of a plan.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa................................" The sudden exclamation was so loud that he jumped a little. He turned towards his left and saw two identical male. 'Have I met them before..? Why do they look so familiar?' He pondered. He just couldn't seem to recall where he had seen this twins before.

"Yuu, you're too loud" Ryuuichi reprimanded his brother, but it lacked of bites. He himself was surprised. He simply couldn't believe what he was seeing. 'This felt like the scene in-.... Is that..?' He saw the brunette, who was looking at them. Their gaze met, brown orbs of different hue stared right into each other.

Tsuna was surprised. He met the eyes of the longer hair teen, who gave him a smile and nod. It looked all so familiar but he just couldn't put a finger to it. 'What..?' The teen pointed to a direction. He turned towards the pointed place and saw the gap between the booths and the trees the school had. It was quite empty there, he could simply walk there to the gymnasium without being stopped every two seconds by recruit hungry seniors.

He realized that Ryuuichi was helping him. He turned back towards Ryuuichi to thank him but the twins were gone. Instead, they had joined the crowd. He briefly wondered why they didn't take the route but threw that thought away and walked into the school ground. 

Ryuuichi, even though he was being crowded by the seniors in the crowd like all freshmen are, his gaze never left the brunette. He simply stared at him until he disappeared at the back of the booths. A smile was plastered. 'I hope you could give me the answers I wanted after everything's over, Tsuna' 

"Yuuichi" He turned towards his brother, who was in the verge of dying in the cramped crowd. He almost laughed out loud when he saw his brother snapping sarcastically at one of the seniors. Deciding that he had enough, he simply pulled his brother out of the crowd. "You're joining the basketball club aren't you?" They both stomped past everyone, ignoring them, only to stop in front of a table. "Here"

He left Yuuichi by the booth before walking towards the archery and chess clubs' booth. Joining both of it. 

'I should at least learn archery just in case...'

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari was leaning against a tree, his trained eyes scanned the crowd. Even if it peeves him to no end that those pitiful herbivores were crowding in front of him, he knew that this is the only day they could get people to join their club. He couldn't care less if they weren't able to. But the principal had asked him, no, begged him to let this day off. 

He scowled, glaring hard at a shaking herbivore who became his victim of said glare. Maybe he shouldn't have let it happen. Suddenly, his head whipped towards a spot, eyes focusing on a certain dark browned hair teen. He doesn't know why but that teen gave off a powerful aura. He watched that teen, dragging someone-his twins?- to a booth and walked off to another two by himself. Not one person disturbed him or stopped him.

Despite having a smile on his face, he gave off an unapproachable feel. Hibari felt a smirk tugged on his lips. Perhaps this year will be fun.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

'Blah blah blah blah... I shouldn't have expected that this opening ceremony would be fast. Damn. I suddenly wished that it was like the ones in my past life...'

Ryuuichi had a bored look on as he sat beside his brother on a metal chair. He simply couldn't care less about what the principal or teachers or whoever it was talking about. He was feeling impatient. He couldn't control it that he was shaking his leg so hard that he could feel the muscle protesting. He have been waiting for years after all. The sudden urge to jump on someone, specifically Tsuna, was so bad that he had to slap himself.

Yuuichi, on the other hand, was staring at his brother weirdly, who tch-ed and slapped himself on the face. Basically everyone who sat near them looked at him strangely.

"Blah blah blah.. I now invite the President of the Disciplinary Committee, Hibari Kyouya-san" 

Ryuuichi perked up. Stopped whatever he was doing and stared up the stage. He saw the familiar black hair and fierce face. Internally, he squealed. In his previous life, she was a fan of Hibari. She basically couldn't surpass the large grin on her face whenever she saw Hibari on her laptop.

'I couldn't believe that I'm actually seeing him, in flesh and blood' 

"Whoever crowds or break the rules, I'll bite them to death" The death glare had everyone shivering, or sweated. But Ryuuichi, who had somehow expected it, snickered. His body bent down, hiding behind the one in front of him, shook in laughter. He hit himself on the knee a few times before he finally stopped shaking. He could feel Yuuichi's stare, knowing that he was crept out by him. Not like he could help it.

He straighten his body again, a permanent smile was on his face. He looked at Hibari's figure as he walked to the back stage without a care, leaving just simply after saying that one sentence that makes everyone's blood run cold.

The emcee coughed "Ummmm.. Now I would like to invite the top student of this year to give a speech...." Well, it's his turn now. Ryuuichi suddenly felt nerves wrecking him up. He never liked talking in front of such a large crowd. It doesn't matter if it's now, or in the past. Ryuuichi will never like it.

He walked up the stage, with a piece of paper in hand. Just as he stepped on the last step, he felt the disturbing stare everyone was giving him. And there, in all his glory, Hibari was staring at him too. He could see him standing at the back with his sharp, grey eyes. 'Holy shit.......... I hate this.....'

Then, his body when autopilot. He walked towards the microphone, and spoke like a robot while he kept his eyes on his paper. In his mind, he was chanting I hate this over and over again. 'I want to burn everything down....'

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari was surprised. For the first time, someone actually met his gaze without flinching. 'Shiroki Ryuuichi.....' He scoffed when he heard him talking mechanically. His smirked. This will be an interesting year.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still cringing.  
> I'll try to post as much chapter as I can..
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	3. Ciaossu

A particular loud sigh ripped out of Ryuuichi's lip, making mostly everyone in the classroom look at him. Their English teacher raised an eyebrow at him. It wasn't always that the top student of the school would disturb a teaching teacher, this is probably the first time it happened. "Shiro-kun. Please read out passage 51"

Ryuuichi twitched, he silently cursed himself for being so careless. He stood up and read the said passage in front of the class. His perfectly accented English had thrown basically everyone in the class off course, including the teacher and excluding Yuuichi, of course. He did grew up in an English based country before. Even though English was his second language even in his past life, it can be considered his forte language. It's even better than his mother tongue.

Once he finished reading, he sat back down. The teacher, snapped out of her trance, too mesmerized by him, continued her teachings. Ryuuichi decided there's nothing much to focus on the lesson since he had known most of the stuff, and looked out the window.

It has been two, no, three months since they entered the school. Hibari, surprisingly had approached him from time to time, asking- ordering- for a spar or two.(He tried to decline it but failed. Somehow he felt relieved that Sakura and Kei had forced both him and Yuuichi to take self defense lessons) He was then called small animal by the said prefect. (And had practically fangirl-ed internally and had to surpress the urge to squeal whenever Hibari talk to him. At least he's able to not show it out)

And because of Hibari's involvement, practically most students, no people, were scared of him. The rumor of him being a demon(Called by the ones in his primary school who knew about the traumatized senior) didn't helped either.

He heard that Tsuna had gained a reputation, being useless- no. He isn't useless. Ryuuichi refused to call or refer that brunette by his nickname. He would practically narrow his eyes at anyone who mention the nickname in front of him, causing most to misunderstood that he hate the brunette.

He suppressed another sigh that was about to get out of his mouth. He wondered when will he able to actually approach them, and promptly get involve in the mafia stuff himself. Oh he will. After living in this life for 13 years, he decided to end his, her, out of ordinary life and do stupid, idiotic and dangerous stuff.

The time and period of Reborn's arrival wasn't stated. Based on the manga, he arrived on the day Tsuna's class have a basketball match, which they'll lose.

'...Wait... We'll be having P.E with his class later... And I heard that it's basketball...' A full blown grin appeared on his face. He quickly covered it with his hand. 'Oh shit.. I can't wait...'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As expected, Tsuna's team lost. He watched from the sideline. His brother along with the others who were playing with him were cheering, glowing actually. On the other side, Tsuna's teammate were sneering at him. Apparently the two class had a bet. Whoever losses will have to clean the who gymnasium.

After a while, all of his classmates and most of 1-B's student had gone. Either to change or who knows what. Tsuna was called Dame-Tsuna, and was blamed. It was quite an illogical accuse. Basketball is the sport of teamwork. It's not an individual game. No one's at fault if they losses. They threw the mop to Tsuna and forced him to clean the gymnasium himself, saying that it's a punishment.

Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes at the laughing teens who continued to mock Tsuna even when they were out of sight, but made no move. He couldn't stop what will happen in before the end of the Curse of The Rainbow Arc. Who knows what will happen if he interferes. He continued watching the brunette, leaning against the wall.

He watched Tsuna's inner monologue, he must have not noticed Ryuuichi as he busied himself with swooning over Sasagawa Kyoko. Ryuuichi had talked to her before, the supposedly school idol. He felt that Kyoko was practically ordinary, aside from her warm personality. Though surprisingly, he hadn't come to dislike the girl. Unlike his usual self, he would dislike popular girls that he met, in this life and the previous, because most of them were snobbish and their heads were held too high. Too be honest, he doesn't like those kind of people, be it a male or female.

He then noticed that Tsuna left, probably, most definitely, going home. All the while he didn't even noticed Ryuuichi. A smirk plastered on Ryuuichi's face, he pushed himself of the wall and walked out, going to class. 'Tomorrow...'

\------------------------- **Next Day** \------------------------------

It was 6 in the morning, Ryuuichi had woke up early than he usually would. Perhaps it's the excitement, but something told him that it has something to do with his dreams that he had last night. He couldn't seem to remember what was it but it sure was vivid. And clearer that the dreams he had before.

He was walking around the neighborhood, alone and in his uniform and bag. Yuuichi went to school earlier because of basketball training. His twin were basically like a zombie, muttering something about his devil coach and all. Decided that it's too early to use his laptop, he went out.

He had his headphone linked to his phone on, with English Songs playing, quite lowly just in case someone decided to jump on him or anything. He quietly hummed as he turned on a junction, seeing a familiar and empty playground. He sat on the swings, placing his bag on the side and slowly swung himself up, higher each time. His mind was else where.

Memories of his past life played like a movie. He remembered his family, his friends, and some other things. He wasn't an idiot nor slow. On the contrary, he was sharp. Very sharp. When he first came into this world as a new born baby boy, he realized he must have either died, or in coma that had his soul and memories transferred here. It sounded so stupid at first but when he realized he was in Namimori, in this world, he knew it's true. He wanted to find out, why was he transferred here. If he had really died in his past life, why does the memories of it still exist.

If he really did reincarnated here, shouldn't he not be able to remember everything?

So he decided to find answers. But because he's thrown here, of all places, he presumed that he could get what he wanted from the main characters of this story. Be it Tsuna, or Reborn, or that Checker Face a.k.a Kawahira, anyone as the matter of fact. He want answers.

And when he was 6 and mentally 22, he had asked his father to let him take Italian and French classes. He figured that learning them would help him understand things more. Well, taking French class was more on a hunch. He didn't know why he wanted to take it but he had his fun.(By sarcastically sassing at people who annoyed him in French. It was funny seeing their clueless expression when he did.)

'Now that I think about it..... Wasn't Vongola First Cloud a Frenchman....?'

He jumped down from the swing and looked at his watch. He suddenly smirked at the time. It's time to greet the strongest hitman.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

"REBORN!!!!!!!!!!!!"

'Ah it started'

"I'll confess to Sasagawa Kyoko with my dying will!!" Ryuuichi saw half naked teen, orange flame burning on his forehead. He didn't noticed him and ran towards the direction of their school. Beside the fallen bag, he saw a familiar looking arcobaleno. He couldn't surpass the urge to smirk and it stuck on his lips.

Reborn himself was smirking. Leon changed back from his gun form and went back to his usual spot on his fedora. He looked at the direction that his student had ran towards, only in his boxer. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. It wasn't hostile. It felt quite strange. He had never encounter such presence that made him interested.

He turned around and saw a dark brown hair boy, looking back at him. His uniform shown that he's a student of Namimori Middle, same school as Tsuna. Ryuuichi was smiling at him. He greeted the hitman and nodded at him. "Good Morning"

Reborn both see and hear the amusement in his tone and eyes. His dark brown orbs made him realized that the teen in front of him knows something. And that something has a lot to do with him, and Tsuna. Basically it has something to do with the mafia, he guessed.

"Ciaossu"

The teen met his eyes for a brief moment before he looked towards his student's bag. "Is that Tsunayoshi's? I think I saw him running away just now" It was a lie. He knew that the bag belonged to Tsuna. Why did he lie was something even Reborn didn't know. He couldn't even read what the teen was thinking, and that was a first. Despite being an expert at reading people's mind, that teen had some kind of barrier or some sort that made him unreadable.

"Yep"

Reborn saw the slight tug on his lips. He kept his eyes on Ryuuichi when he bent down and picked up the bag. "Well, I'll deliver it to him. Need a ride?"

Reborn tugged his fedora down and hid his eyes, a smirk planted on his face. 'He's interesting. I'll keep an eye on him for now' He thanked the boy and jumped onto his head, surprised that it's quite comfortable. "Ah I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi by the way. Your name?"

Reborn felt that it's weird that Ryuuichi didn't seem to be surprised or crept out that he's talking to a talking baby. "I'm Reborn" The two didn't say anything else as Ryuuichi walked to his school. Reborn didn't feel anything out of ordinary when he sat on top of Ryuuichi's head the whole time. But when they reached the school's gate, he felt a sudden dangerous aura from the teen.

He looked towards the direction the teen was staring and saw Tsuna on the ground and in his boxer. Apparently Mochida had had punched him in the face, shouting something about pervert freak, before the senior stomped away, probably running after Kyoko.

"What happened to me!??!" Tsuna was pulling his hair as he brainstormed about nonsensical stuff. Reborn and Ryuuichi were amused at his little show as he didn't noticed the both of them. Reborn jumped down from Ryuuichi's head, saying that what he did is all because of the Dying Will Bullet he had shot him and somehow explained about the usage of it.

"Reborn!!" Only then did Tsuna noticed Ryuuichi. He then pointed a finger at him "Ahh!! You!!" He remembered the teen helped him a few months back, but he never engaged or seen him much after that. The fact that he hadn't say his thanks dawn him. "Ummm.. Thanks for helping me that time.."

Ryuuichi was surprised. He didn't expected the teen to thank him, nor know which situation was he referring to. Though, he figured that it's the recent one. He smiled at him, not fazed by the slightly rude teen. Perhaps Tsuna didn't realized his action is quite rude after all. "Anytime. Oh and here" He gave him his bag and a spare uniform that Reborn handed him earlier. A small blush appeared on his cheeks when Tsuna realized he's still half naked and thanked Ryuuichi again.

Reborn on the other hand, stood by their side and watched them interact, puzzled. 'Tsuna met Ryuuichi before?' According to his research, his student had never interact with the other before. The question was never answered because the darker hair teen suddenly jumped back, avoiding a tonfa. He looked towards the assailant and saw a dangerous looking raven head. 'Hibari Kyouya'

"Good morning to you too, Hibari" Ryuuichi had a unreadable smile on his face, one that he usually give to the prefect. Hibari smirked, and kept away his tonfa. "Small animal" He greeted back and when on his fighting stance again. Ryuuichi who noticed that quickly raised both of his hand. He doesn't want to fight the prefect, not this early in the morning.

"Whoah whoah stop. I don't want to fight" Hibari huffed, not even listening, and ran to attack him. Ryuuichi quickly jump over Tsuna and ran into the school compound, shouting. "See you later!!"

Reborn observed the two as he absentmindedly answered Tsuna's question about the bullet. His attention fully taken by the Ryuuichi who ran away.

Hibari was annoyed that he wasn't able to bite the small animal to death, but he didn't chase him as the first bell rang. He then turned towards the teen still sitting on the ground and ordered him to go back to class. He raised an eyebrow when the teen stumbled and ran into the school ground with his bag and uniform on hand. He locked eyes with the infant, who was still at his stop, smirking. He nodded a little and returned a smirk himself before going back into the school. 'One day, I'll bite that infant to death'

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna sighed for the nth time that day. After the confession incident that morning, everyone in his class had teased, mocked and laughed at him, practically non-stop. To make that worse, Mochida-senpai had challenged him to a Kendo match later during the afternoon break. He silently cussed the hitman under his breath.

And then, Ryuuichi suddenly came into the picture. He furrowed his eyebrows when he remembered that Reborn was on top of his head that morning. He silently wondered that if Ryuuichi was part of that infant's scheme. Though, he generally felt that Ryuuichi wasn't even in Reborn's plan. He had no idea why but he felt Ryuuichi was more than that. He still couldn't get the familiar feeling off though.

Soon, the dread afternoon break arrived. He tried to run away through the toilet's window, only to have the infant stop him, saying something about running away for the rest of his life. His patience on him was slowly running out. "I don't want some infant to talk to be about my life!" Seriously, who did the baby think he is, lecturing him about stuff like this.

But in the end, he had appeared at the gymnasium, where Mochida had decided to spar with him at. He wondered why the hell did he agreed on coming. Perhaps he should've increase his mental strength and not let the infant manipulate him. He also questioned his sanity because he had just been manipulated by a infant.

There was quite a large crowd of people, even Hibari was there.

Ryuuichi, stood next to Hibari, leaning against the wall like he was. A few students wondered how the hell was he able to be near the dangerous prefect without being bitten to death. Then again, the top student wasn't really a normal person anyway.

Yuuichi, who was standing by his side looked at Mochida in disgust. The damn Kendo captain was a shrewd human being. He felt like punching the senior in the gut a thousand times when he declared to Tsuna and basically everyone in the gymnasium that whoever wins gets Kyoko. Mind you, Yuuichi's punch can be quite deadly. Ryuuichi who could feel the want emitting from his younger twin sweated a little but said nothing. He had taste the punch before and he certainly didn't want to get it again, thank you very much.

Back to the situation in hand, Ryuuichi watched as Mochida ran after Tsuna who was running away from him, shrieking at the same time. His eyes then wandered towards where Reborn was, on the upper floor by the window. He was holding a shot gun shaped Leon and shot Tsuna. He hadn't realized that he was being watched until he had shot his student.

He quickly looked towards the direction but no one was looking at him. Everyone was too focused on the match. His eyes zeroed at Ryuuichi, who was standing in between Hibari and his lookalike. 'Twins?' None of them were looking at him. He let his gaze on them for a few moments longer before looking back at his student.

Ryuuichi had turned towards Tsuna who had 'Reborn'ed, watching him in glee as he literally ripped Mochida's hair. One thing that he shared with Yuuichi at the moment was the pleasure in seeing Mochida suffering. He and Yuuichi was challenged by the senior before in the past, a day after Kyoko approached them. Let's just say that after the match, no one dares to even think about it and Mochida was thoroughly traumatized. And since then, the twins had this sort of hatred against him. Even more on Ryuuichi because he knew about Mochida's mocking on Tsuna.

Surprisingly, Mochida had quite a thick skull because he had recovered from his traumatized state in a month.

The match was over with Tsuna as the winner. Everyone cheered loudly. Ryuuichi then gazed out through the gymnasium's door, and saw a familiar silver hair teen. The oh so familiar smile appeared on his face. "Yuuichi, let's go" The twins left without looking back and Hibari did nothing to stop them, only that he and Ryuuichi's eyes met for a brief moment.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Shiroki-kun?"

Ryuuichi snapped out of his trance when he heard his coach's voice. He slowly fell out of his archery stance and bowed lightly at the older man. "Coach" The coach had a gentle, father smile on, and he's one of those wise old man he had always heard about, but never met one. Til he met his coach of course. Whenever he stayed longer for practice, the old man would surely accompany him and it's no different currently. "Is something wrong? You seem out of it today"

Ryuuichi looked puzzled at him. What did he do to make the coach said that? He was, as usual, coming to archery practice on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, leaving the rest to the Chess club, and he did what he would usually do when he comes to practice. His coach chuckled. "You've been standing like that for at least 2 minutes and you haven't been getting much points today"

He looked towards the target board and saw that he indeed didn't meet his usual quota. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly and sighed. "Is something bothering you?" He turned towards his coach and sighed again. Apparently he couldn't hide things from him. "Well...."

The coach didn't said anything, and waited for him to continue. It's a sign of him wanting to squeeze some juice out, really. "It's just that... I'm getting closer to getting my answers.... I'm kind of nervous.."

Once, he had a chat with the old man. He was asked, questioned by him because basically each time he comes to practice, the coach could saw anticipation and doubt in him. So that day his coach decided to talk about it over a tea. Ryuuichi simply answered that he was waiting for answers but did not elaborate further. The old man who saw the signs of hesitation did not force him to answer much.

"Ohh? That's good, isn't it?"

A smile appeared. "It is" The coach smiled back at him, and gently wished "I pray the best for you"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *wince* 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar,spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	4. Smoking Bomb and Demon

"Ne ne Shiro-kun, have you heard about the transfer student in 1-B was from Italy?" A random girl suddenly asked him. He looked up from his notebook and saw a group of girls surrounding him. He sighed inwardly and wondered how the hell was he going to make these girls go away. It's not that he hates them or anything. It's just that he's a bit socially awkward whenever it comes to talking to people whom he felt that he won't get along with. Yuuichi was at basketball practice and won't come to class until the first bell rings.

"Yeah... It's a he, apparently" He politely answered them, a few shy ones behind the girl probably squealed internally seeing the fact that their shoulders were tensed and a blush was on their faces. Seriously, why would anyone have a crush on him. He had given out the unapproachable aura around him, according to his brother. Perhaps there's girls who like this kind of guy. It's quite a pity though. It's not because they're not beautiful, but because Ryuuichi wasn't interested in girls.

'I'm internally a female anyway..' But because he's currently in a male's body, he perhaps could be categorized as a homo. Who knows. He certainly doesn't. He have no interest in getting in a relationship or whatsoever anyway.

"Really??" One more thing about people approaching him, to get information. He could be named a database seeing the fact that he knows a lot of stuff, ranging from the strangest stuff to the most logical stuff. He couldn't help it that most teacher would immediately spill shits out unconsciously. Perhaps they trusted him a little too much.

"Yeah"

The girls immediately when fantasizing, trying to imagine what kind of person the transferee is. Ryuuichi inwardly sighed. They probably wouldn't expect what kind of person Gokudera is. That sliver head was something a kin to a loyal, puppy dog. Basically, he'll bark at anyone other than the one he respect and change into a puppy whenever he was praised. Seriously even the creator of KHR had drew him with a pair of dog ears and a tail in one of the episodes.

'Smoking Bomb Hayato' He smirked. He took out his phone and went into a certain chatting site, and stared at the name 'RedBomber', who was offline at the moment. 'I'll greet you later, Yato'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Gokudera scowled. He glared at basically everyone in the classroom, as the teacher introduced him. When he was asked to say something, he ignored it and walked up towards the supposedly Tenth of Vongola. He glared at the wimp and kicked his table, surprising the living shit out of Tsuna. He tch-ed when the teacher tried to stop him and walked up to an empty seat a few tables behind Tsuna.

He couldn't believe that he'll be serving such a weakling. Reborn had called him a week ago, telling him to come to Japan and test the brunette out. He had said that to tell him that he'll be fighting for the boss position. To be honest, he didn't want it. But Reborn had told him to so he had no choice. It wasn't everyday that the strongest hitman of the world would call you and request something from you. It was an honor to him.

For now, he'll observe the brunette before he fight him.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna couldn't believe it. He didn't know what he did to deserve such hatred from the bomber. Gokudera practically glared at him throughout the classes. Yamamoto, on the other hand, had approached him for the first time along with a few others, and said that they'll be counting on him for the volleyball tournament. He doesn't even know how to play Volleyball!! Curse Reborn for doing this.(Because he was the one who had the other reserved players fall ill)

Something told him that this isn't the only thing that the infant will do.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi couldn't really understand the school. First the basketball, now? The Volleyball. Seriously this isn't a sports' anime. And two games in a span of less than a week? Wow. At least he isn't going to play. Again, their class will be up against Tsuna's. Perhaps they'll have a better chance at winning now, seeing that Yuuichi wasn't going to participate in the tournament. 'Wait.. Did they won this...?'

He stood at the usual spot that he would usually stand, leaning against the wall. Yuuichi was sitting down on the floor beside him while chatting with a few of his friends. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a pissed off bomber. Gokudera was glaring at the brunette. He was going to play.

Ryuuichi smirked(Seriously, he have been smirking for so many times recently that he swore that he'll have a permanent smirk on his face), eyes locking on the bomber. Perhaps he had been staring at him too intensely that he could see a shiver running down Gokudera's spine.

(Gokudera had to surpass the shudder when he felt the strong gaze on him, though he paid no mind. He had been stared at for all his life after all. Though, he still felt uncomfortable.)

He decided to not make the teen uncomfortable any longer and had his gaze averted to the match in hand. It started off with their class winning the first set. Everyone who was cheering at Tsuna felt somewhat disappointed and flabbergasted. Tsuna's teammate, was telling him to get off if he wasn't serious about this tournament. He could see the resolve in Tsuna's eyes afterwards when Yamamoto, being the peacemaker, stopped them from fighting.

And the second set started. He then saw Reborn, with his shot gun, again, aiming at Tsuna. However, he didn't shot him. Instead, he huffed in a little pride when he saw the same resolve Ryuuichi saw. Tsuna wasn't going to rely on the Dying Will Bullet. He'll try his very best instead.

But then, he shot two different bullets at Tsuna's legs. 'Jump bullet huh... That means....' Ryuuichi looked back at Tsuna. He briefly wondered why his timing is so good because he turned to him just the moment he got hit by his private part, successfully did a block with it. He winced. 'I knew it...' Despite never felt the pain before, Ryuuichi couldn't help but cringed.

At the end of the match, Tsuna's class won by a 2 sets out of 1. Everyone cheered loudly. Ryuuichi spotted Yamamoto slinging an arm across Tsuna's shoulder, a large happy grin plastered on his face. The two of them laughed happily, but Tsuna's face turned grim with fear because Gokudera glared at him.

"I won't accept it" The bomber turned around and fully faced him, still glaring daggers. "I'm the one who's worthy of the Tenth position" Tsuna was torn between dread and puzzled. How the hell the sliver hair teen knew about the Tenth and him being the candidate is a mystery to him, even though it could only meant that Gokudera is involved with the mafia. Involved with Reborn's scheme.(Really, why are you so slow, Tsuna?)

The two ended up going to the back of the school ground, where Gokudera challenged him for a death match. Ryuuichi, who followed them, stood far away from them, hiding behind a large and old tree. Even though he couldn't hear whatever they were talking about, with Reborn included in the conversation, he could see them clearly. He already knew that Reborn would introduce Gokudera as Smoking Bomb Hayato to Tsuna.

Gokudera took out his dynamite out of nowhere. Ryuuichi wondered why didn't Hibari come here with the dynamite exploding here and there. With Hibari suddenly popped out in his mind, his mind drifted to the similarity between Gokudera and Hibari. One, they both hides their weapon somewhere around his body, without anyone noticing where it was. Two, the blood lust. Though, Gokudera's would consider a small one, comparing to Hibari's. That damn prefect greets him with a tonfa in his face every single time they meet.

"REBORN!!" 'There it is, again' He's seriously getting tired of Tsuna suddenly ripping his shirt and pants, leaving only his boxer, and shouting that word. Even though he loved the anime, the daily life arc was his least favourite, that's for sure. He had nothing to go against daily fluff and hilarity, but it can get quite dull after some time.

The again half naked teen immediately went to work and tried to diffuse the dynamites. And then, the expected carelessness of Gokudera, with him almost dying(by his own dynamites that he had dropped when he wanted to use Triple Bomb) if not for Tsuna, who ended up diffusing every single one of it.

Well, at least none died, not that it'll happen. 'When did Yamamoto appeared again....'

Ryuuichi almost laughed out loud at Gokudera, who knelt, doing dogeza towards Tsuna. He probably had admitted defeat after he saw Tsuna, who unknowingly saved him. The urge somehow doubled when he saw the pissed off face when Yamamoto became chummy with Tsuna and he accidentally let out a snicker, causing Reborn and Gokudera noticing him. "Who's there!?"

Gokudera shouted, hands readied to take out his dynamites. The others, simply stared at his direction. Ryuuichi decided that he should get out of hiding, appeared, his hands raised upwards. "Calm down, it's me." Gokudera spatted back, asking who he was. Though, Yamamoto was the one who answered for him. "Ryuuichi!"

Reborn and Tsuna(who was dumbfounded) on the other hand, simply watch the three.

"Yo, Yamamoto" He grinned at the baseball star, who grinned back, before turning towards Gokudera. "Shiroki Ryuuichi. Nice to finally meet you, Gokudera Hayato" They all perked up, what did that mysterious teen meant by finally. Ryuuichi somewhat knew what they were thinking and shook his head.

"How the hell did you know my name" Gokudera didn't let his guard down. No. On the contrary, he rose it up further. His guts told him that this Shiroki guy isn't someone simple. He scowled even further when he was answered by a smirk and a lie. "Well, basically every single girl in my class were talking about you... Well, I'll probably answer more questions from you but first..."

He saw his eyes averted from him, towards the other side. Only then he heard mocking sounds from three third years. The delinquents were mocking and laughing about Juudaime, that pissed him off more than he ever was. No one, and he meant no one, is ever EVER allowed to laugh OR mock about Juudaime, unless they wanted to get roasted by him, of course.

He immediately went into action, roasting up the three stupid delinquents.

Ryuuichi shook his head, seriously how come the demon prefect didn't noticed the loud booming is seriously a million dollar question. When he deemed the bomber had finished, he walked forward, and towards the three. "Hey, you guys are breaking the rules with whatever you guys are wearing." The three was about to spat back pitifully, only to have it died down their throat when they saw his face. "With permission given by the president of the Disciplinary Committee, Hibari Kyouya, you guys will be punished"

He didn't do anything else. He simply took out his phone, took a picture and sent it to Hibari. Please don't ask him how the hell he has Hibari's phone number. The three immediately ran away, shouting demon. Ryuuichi cringed at the nickname. He was sure that this reputation will strike up even higher now.

"I need to go now, if you guys want to ask anything, ask Yamamoto where to find me. I'll stay til late 6" He waved and walked away.

Tsuna, couldn't seem to swallow what just happen. He turned towards Yamamoto and gave him a questioning look. "Y-you knew him, Yamamoto?" The baseball star sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, an arm still slinging over Tsuna's shoulder, much to Gokudera's favor(And he had shouted at him). "Ahh.. Well, yeah. We went to the same kindergarten..."

Reborn raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected the the future member of Vongola Tenth would be the childhood friend of the same person he couldn't understand. Basically that teen knew or had involved with every person he had his eyes on. "Na Yamamoto. Where will Ryuuichi be?" He asked and ended up having the three's attention on him. "Well... I'm not quite sure... Ryuuichi would probably either be at the archery dojo, the chess club room, the basketball gymnasium or with Hibari"

He hadn't quite expected the places, actually, well maybe the last part. He, without a word, walked away. "Reborn?" "You can go home first, Tsuna. I'll a bit late"

First, he went to the basketball gymnasium, the nearest at the moment. Though, Ryuuichi wasn't there, instead, his twin was there, having a mini match with his teammates. Yuuichi movements suddenly hitched stopped, the ball he had in his hand slipped out of his grasp and bounced away. His teammates watched him, wondering what was wrong with him, and their coach shouted at the background at him. Yuuichi could feel someone watching him.

He turned towards the door and saw Reborn. He frowned. 'Why is there a baby in the school compound' He walked towards the infant, and crouched in front of him.

Reborn was impressed. Perhaps because he's the twin of Ryuuichi, the two of them were able to notice him, though Ryuuichi was another level higher than Yuuichi. "Ciaossu" He greeted the twin.

"Boy, who are you? Are you looking for someone?"

"I'm looking for Ryuuichi. Do you know where he is?" Yuuichi raised an eyebrow. 'This kid is somewhat similar to Ryuu...' "Ryuu? He probably is at the chess club room today. If he's not you, can find him at the roof top. Why?" He saw a small smirk on the face of the baby. Now that's something. It wasn't everyday you can see a smirking baby. Except if you're dealing with a younger Ryuuichi. The baby thanked him but said nothing more, and simply walked away. 'Weird baby....'

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi was leaning against the fences on the roof top. He sighed. Sometimes dealing with people is a little tiring. He had went to the club room, saying that he will leave earlier, only to bombarded by questions. He figured that if anyone of them wants to find him to talk, it's better to be at somewhere private. Slowly, he could feel his eyes dropping, feeling a little sleepy.

But he woke up right away when the door to the roof top slammed open. He looked towards the direction and grinned. He had expected Reborn to be the one who will find him first. "Hi" He push himself of the fence and sat down a foot beside it, Reborn sat down in front of him.

"Now, I supposed that you have questions?" Of course he have. He was the one who told them to find him if they have any.

"Who are you, Shiroki Ryuuichi?" Such straight forward question. Ryuuichi smiled. He could see the annoyed look on the hitman, because he had not answered him question. The hitman glared at him, making to chuckle. "It's true. I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi."

"But you're something more" He chuckled again. Seriously, this hitman is too sharp. "Yes, true. I'm more than that. Though, I can't tell you" He was greeted by a gun in his face, clearly the hitman doesn't like to be played at. He was unfazed. He knew that the hitman won't kill him. "Rest ensure though, I'm not an enemy of yours, nor Vongola."

That threw Reborn off course. How the hell did he knew about Vongola, and mafia along the line. And he himself said that he's not an enemy? "How can I trust you" His gun still pointing at Ryuuichi. The teen only smiled.

"That's up to you to decided, isn't it?" He took his eyes off Reborn, not even caring the fact that he has a gun that would fire anytime in his face, and stared up the sky. His eyes showed something akin to loneliness, and yearning. As if he's waiting for something. "I can't force you to believe me or anything, but I'll have to tell you that I would not bring or cause any danger to Tsuna and the others." He looked back and right into the dark black orbs "On the contrary, I'll be your ally. I probably can't help much but I'll do my best"

Reborn doesn't know why but he felt that this teen could be trusted. Slowly, he lowered his gun. A smile was presented to him, as if it's as a thanks. "... How did you know about the mafia stuffs though? And how did you know the trio" He referred to Tsuna and the others.

"Well, you could say that I found it out myself?" It's a lie, Reborn could tell, but he said nothing more knowing that he wouldn't get the truth. Not right now. He simply observed the unreadable teen. "As for the others... I first met, and got to known Yamamoto during kindergarten, while we're having sports' day. Tsuna when both Yuuichi and I helped him in the past, though, he probably couldn't remember. As for Gokudera....."

Ryuuichi took out his phone, and smiled. Reborn was about to question him when the door was slammed open again. He was getting a bit annoyed, being interrupted that is. They looked towards the door and found the bomber, slightly out of breathe and was scowling. He was holding his phone in one hand.

Gokudera spotted Reborn and Ryuuichi, and scowled even further. 'Why are they here...? Where's....' He looked around the roof top, trying to spot the one that called him up here. It has been almost half a year since the last time  _he_  contacted him. One day  _he_  just simply stopped responding to his message. He was devastated.  _He_  was the one who helped him out of the darkness when he doesn't have anyone to talk to.  _He_  was the one who understand him.

"Gokudera." He turned towards Reborn, who called him. "Are you looking for someone" Gokudera nodded. "Yes, Reborn-san. Is there anyone else here?" He furrowed his eyebrows when Reborn said that there's only the two of them here the whole time. Why did  _he_  called him here when he himself isn't? 'Unless....' His phone vibrated, meaning there's an incoming message. He looked into his phone and eyes widen.

' _Yato, you're looking directly at the one you're looking for_ ' He looked towards Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi was holding up his own phone, waving it slightly. "It has been a while, Yato" He was smiling at him. Gokudera couldn't believe it. He hadn't expected the teen to be  _him_. "D-drake?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There'll be a total of 12 arcs, where out of 12, 10 of it would go according to anime and manga. It's currently the first Arc, The Daily Life Arc. This is also the arc where Ryuuichi would befriend everyone and so on.   
> The next arcs will go accordingly to the ones below;
> 
> 2nd= Kokuyo Arc  
> 3rd= Varia Arc  
> 4th= Future Arc  
> 5th= Arcobaleno Trials Arc  
> 6th= Choice Arc  
> 7th= Inheritance Succession Arc  
> 8th= Future Final Battle Arc  
> 9th= Inheritance Ceremony/ Shimon Fight Arc  
> 10th= The Curse of Rainbow Arc
> 
> I'll keep 11th and 12th arc as a secret for now.
> 
> The 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th arc are actually focused on the future fight so they're linked, somewhat. And it would probably be the longest arc I'll have in this story. 
> 
> The first arc would be fast-paced along with the Kokuyo Arc and Varia Arc since I think these arcs would more on having getting Ryuuichi closer to Tsuna and others. Or something like that (?)
> 
> Please beware that there are a lot of plot holes and cringe-y stuff all over.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar,spelling,etc.etc. mistakes]


	5. Suicidal Attempts

"D-drake?" He stumbled towards Ryuuichi, and knelt to his eye level. His heart leaped in happiness when Ryuuichi nodded, the chat box that was on his phone was more than enough to be the proof. He immediately pounced teen, surprising the hell out of Ryuuichi, and secretly Reborn, not like the prideful hitman would admit.

"Where the hell have you been!!! I've been trying to contact you for 6 bloody months you know!!" He hugged him tightly, not letting go. He felt a hand patting his back. "Sorry... I'll try to make it up to you later, but first..." Gokudera slowly let go of him, and turned towards Reborn, who was watching their supposedly reunion with dead eyes, clearly not interested at it currently.

He felt his cheeks heated up in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Reborn-san" He sat down beside Ryuuichi.

"Now answer me, Ryuuichi" The said teen chuckled at the impatient tone. "Right right, well, this is actually the first time I met Gokudera in flesh." He lightly slapped the bomber at the back "We knew each other on a chatting website actually." It's true, he did knew Gokudera on a chatting website. The bomber himself had approached him one day when he was online, asking for advice. He was considered a counselor on the website so pretty much a lot of people asked advice from him everyday. When he saw the message from the bomber, he immediately knew it was him since his username basically gave it all away.

Though, he didn't mention that he actually know Gokudera even if he didn't approach him. He smiled at the hitman "Does that answer your questions?"

Reborn was frustrated. The teen did answered him. But he could tell there's something more than that. He also knew that it's futile to force the answer out because he certainly won't say it. He doesn't want to admit it but torturing, physically or mentally, won't work on him. He could tell that the teen's mental strength is higher than most people expected. Not much choice, he nodded. "Ah"

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Gokudera couldn't believed it. He pinched himself for the nth time, and it hurts. It actually hurts. He wasn't dreaming. He was really with Drake.

Gokudera had first approached him when he was almost giving up on his life. And then, he accidentally stumbled upon the chatting site, more specifically, Drake's profile on the chatting site. His profile didn't say much, except that he would lend a listening ear(Eyes) and give advice to anyone. He hesitated. He wondered should he really talk to this guy that he doesn't even know. He wondered if it's ok to open up to him.

After consideration, he made an account on that site. He then sent a message to Drake. And slowly, after time passed, they got closer, too close to be considered as a counselor and someone who need counseling. It became friendship. And to the point that even Drake knows his real name, and had called him Yato. He had became his light. Even though Drake never reveal anything about himself, nor his problem, he felt that he could trust him.

And then, he disappeared. 6 months ago, Drake suddenly stopped going on the website. He had stopped answering him. Gokudera was devastated. He tried so hard to find him on the internet, because he remembered that Drake once told him that he basically have an account on every single English social media, but the internet world was too big. No matter what, he couldn't track him down. His light suddenly disappeared.

Now, he's right there, in flesh and blood, not digitally. He felt like crying for the second time that day.

The first was when Juudaime had saved him. For the first time in 6 months, he felt the light. The same type of light that Drake had given him. He wanted to cry, but didn't. He did not wanted to look like a wimp in front of Juudaime.

Gokudera suddenly realized that he had two lights in his life now. Drake, the light that supports him mentally. And Juudaime, the light that supports him physically.

Ryuuichi could see the messed up thoughts of Gokudera. He knew what was on his mind. He could practically see the ghost tear around the rim of his eyes. He couldn't say anything though. Technically, it was his fault anyway. He knew he shouldn't let the bomber get attached to him on the site, but he realized it far too late. So he had cut off the connections. He couldn't become the only one that Gokudera will open up to. He had to make him open up to the other Guardians too, especially Tsuna and Yamamoto. The two will be a better support than him. They will be the brighter light. They will be the one to teach him to survive, to live and to trust.

If he open up to just him, who knows what will happen.

"Sorry, Yato... I'm sorry for disappearing without any notice..." He patted the bomber on the head gently, a caring smile was presented to him.

"I-it's ok.. Drake" He let out a sigh. "Relax, I won't disappear without saying anything anymore." He stood up, his hand stretched out in front of Gokudera. "Let's go, we'll have dinner together" A large grin appeared on his face "At the same time, I'll introduce you to my brother. Oh and call me Ryuuichi from now on"

Gokudera smiled. "Yes!!"

\--------------------------------- **Two Day Later** \---------------------------------------

'Today, Yamamoto... Huh' Ryuuichi scanned the baseball field through his class window, watching students from some random class were having P.E there. It was currently a free period because their Math teacher suddenly couldn't make it. He stood up from his seat and walked out of the classroom. "Yuu. I'll skip for a while" He went up to the roof top, which was empty.

'Of course it's still empty. He won't come up here until a little later..... Or now...' His quickly climbed to where Hibari usually would sleep at, hiding from Yamamoto. He watched as the baseball star, with a hand injured, climbed to the other side of the fence. He could clearly see his hesitation. Ryuuichi gritted his teeth and clenched his hands. 'Tsuna.. Hurry up' Students from Yamamoto's class immediately filled the previously empty roof top. All trying to stop Yamamoto, who was too stubborn to listen to anyone.

And then Tsuna came into picture. He let out a brief sigh of relief. Tsuna was trying his very best to persuade the baseball star from committing suicide. Finally, he managed to knock some sense into Yamamoto, but being the timid him, Tsuna ran away, only to be pulled back by Yamamoto, and only to be drag down along with him.

Everyone gasped. Ryuuichi didn't really worried much. He jumped down from his previous hiding spot, surprising a few students by his action, and ran down the stairs, towards the courtyard where Tsuna and Yamamoto would land. He smiled a little when he heard the familiar shout "MID AIR REBORN!!!"

When he finally reached them, he could see that Yamamoto and Tsuna making up, smiling at each other. He stopped, and calmed his breathing for a moment. Now, it's his time to give that idiot a lesson.

He stomped hard towards Yamamoto, glaring at him. Tsuna squeaked in fear when he saw Ryuuichi's glare while Yamamoto sweated. Ryuuichi stopped in front of Yamamoto, and gave him a hard slap on the back.

"You're seriously a bloody idiot, Yamamoto." "W-wha-" The baseball star gulped in fear. Ryuuichi's eyes were glaring at him so hard he felt that he would somehow, some way, burn. "Have you ever thought give a thought for your father? What do you think he would feel like if you die?"

He couldn't answer. "T-that's..."

"Aside from your father, have you given a thought about what your friends would feel? How would I feel? Even though I never really talked to you much but I care about you. Not just me, Tsunayoshi cares about you too" He looked at Tsuna, who nodded. Ryuuichi crouched in front of Yamamoto. "Dude. Your life isn't something you can end so easily. Everyone went through the same thing. Everyone had dropped down a ditch at least onces in their life time. Even if you're too deep in it, dying isn't a solution. That's call running away. All you have to do, is to find the answer and climb back up again. You still have a long way to go, idiot."

What Ryuuichi said was a little too complicated, but Yamamoto somehow understood. It really was idiotic of him to think that dying could solve everything. A smile slowly graced his face. "Ahh.. Sorry about all that, Tsuna, Ryuu"

All's well, end's well, for now.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been almost a month since Ryuuichi got himself involved with Tsuna's gang. And since Yamamoto's incident, Tsuna, Yamamoto and of course, Gokudera, had gotten closer to him. Reborn, on the other hand could finally at least read the emotions the teen has, well sometimes.

Through the month, he had met Lambo, the annoying kid, I-pin, who almost killed Tsuna and has a little crush on Hibari, Haru, who one day suddenly approached him and asked him about a few nonsensical stuff, main topic on Tsuna, Bianchi, who luckily never asked him to test her poison cooking, and Ryohei, who at one point tried to recruit him to the boxing club but was rejected. Hibari, on the other hand, had actually stopped greeting him with a tonfa in his face, which was quite surprising.

Currently, Ryuuichi was walking along with Tsuna, who said that Reborn had invited him over for dinner. Seeing the fact Yuuichi was in Tokyo for his basketball Interhigh competition and Sakura and Kei were outstation for their monthly work so he was the only one at home, and he can't cook, he decided to take up the offer.

He was chatting with Tsuna about a few tips on Mathematics when they saw men in black outside Tsuna's house. Ryuuichi suddenly remembered Dino. 'So it's Dino today...'

The men in black all made way and greeted Tsuna. They didn't seem to notice Ryuuichi for some reason, resulting Ryuuichi being either glared at or watched with conscious. 'Seriously, could you give me a break..' He followed behind Tsuna, who quickly scrambled into his house. Ryuuichi muttered a small "Sorry for intrusion" as he took off his shoes. He had visited Tsuna's house before, and have met Nana, who was as ditzy as he had expected.

They both went upstair, to Tsuna's room when Nana said that they have a guest. He almost laughed out loud when he saw Tsuna shrinking a little as two men in black, looked at him. No, not glared, looked. 'Romario... And who the hell was that..'

And then, Dino revealed himself, in all his glory, on an expensive looking chair. All the time, he had been invisible to their eyes. It was quite expected, seeing that Tsuna is the main character, right now and later.

He watched as Dino, who walked up towards Tsuna and pointed out his bad points. Ryuuichi was trembling so badly, trying to stop his laughter. When Reborn added what he has was the last straw. He burst out laughing so hard that his stomach hurt. His hysterical laughter had brought Dino and the other's attention.

"Oh Ryuuichi, you're here" Reborn popped out by his side. Ryuuichi took a minute more before he finally be able to stop himself. "I've been here since the beginning though"

"Reborn?" Dino called out. Ryuuichi looked up at him the Cavallone boss, and smiled. "Hello" He stood up from his previous crouching form and bowed lightly. "I'm Tsuna's friend. Name's Shiroki Ryuuichi" Dino's expression, along with Romario and the other one, changed 180 degrees. He hadn't expected it. "Did you say your name's Shiroki..?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It's my family name. Why?" He frowned. What's with Dino and his family name? Could it be that his parents were involved with him in some way? Dino quickly shook his head, denying everything. "A-ah no. Nothing" Something told him that it wasn't 'nothing'.

Suddenly, came along one Lambo. The child apparently was too bored and decided to bother Tsuna and Reborn, well, basically wanted to assassin him, but failed, as expected. He tried to keep calm ended up crying loudly. A dynamite was thrown, out of the window by accident. Dino's subordinates were outside, so he had done a little show, by jumping out of the window and whipped the dynamite away.

Lambo, who couldn't stop crying took out his 10 years bazooka, wanting to shoot himself but Reborn had kicked him. The 10 year bazooka slipped out of his grasp and hit Ryuuichi, who was slightly curious how does it feel to get shoot by it.

Pink smoke appeared and disappeared as quickly as it came, and a taller male appeared. "R-ryuuichi?!" Tsuna was stunned. The teen now turned adult looked really matured. He had grown taller, probably an inches or two shorter than Dino. His face had grew sharper and his built was filled up a little more, but not to the muscle type like Ryohei. His dark brown eyes were sharper, and he still had that familiar smile on his face.

"Hmm?" His voice had tuned a little lower than his current one. "Oh, the bazooka huh." Right at the same time, Dino appeared. He gasped when he saw the adult, slightly flabbergasted. The older Ryuuichi saw Dino and raised an eyebrow. Suddenly a smirk was presented. "A younger Dino. How nostalgic"

"R-r-ryuuichi!?!??!" The man chuckled. "Hi~" He turned towards Tsuna, and gave him a smile. He walked up towards Tsuna, and cupped his cheeks. "Oh? You haven't remember?" Tsuna was puzzled, clueless at what the man was talking about. "Well, never mind. Anyway..." His cheeks were suddenly pinched "Younger Tsuna is seriously cute~!!!" He struggled to get out of Ryuuichi's grip, before he was released. He rubbed his sore cheeks.

Ryuuichi turned towards Reborn and gave him a smirk, though said nothing. He simply gave him a nodded before turning towards Dino again. "Dino." The said man stuttered a yes. He briefly wondered why was he so tensed around the older Ryuuichi, who chuckled. "I'll have you know, you can't hide things from my younger self for long. He'll catch it up fast." Before he could reply anything, Ryuuichi bade them see you, and disappeared with the pink puff, and the original Ryuuichi came back.

Ryuuichi couldn't believe what he had been through. When he was transferred to the future, he was alone in a office. From what he had saw, he could tell that he really must have gotten involved in the mafia really deep now. "Ryuuichi?" He looked towards the couch that the office had, and saw two guys emerging from it, finally realizing that he wasn't alone. "Ryuu" He could make up the familiar voices. Voices that he knew quite well "Eh? Hibari? Dino?" Why is the Cavallone boss and Hibari here?

The two looked towards him when they heard the higher toned voice he had, and eyes widen. They stood up and walked up towards him. Dino cupped his cheeks and had stretched it, much to his dismay. "Whoah. It's real!" Hibari simply raised an eyebrow in question. Ryuuichi sighed. "10 year bazooka"

Realization dawned them both. The younger Lambo must have accidentally hit him with it. "What was I doing in this era?" Ryuuichi asked, as he looked around the office. It was quite large, with book shelves lined up by the side of the room, couches that laid near it, a picture frame on the office table in front of him, and a few couple of files, probably documents.

The two hesitated. At some point through the years, the older Ryuuichi had told them not to tell his younger self much about what he do in this era. Hints were alright but not the full story. Though, they doubt that is possible seeing the fact that Ryuuichi was a sharp one ever since he was young, not to mention quite smart at putting pieces in place. Basically, hiding things from him is hard.

"W-well... You're-" "You're a member of both Vongola and Cavallone Famiglia" Dino protested loudly when Hibari had answered him. ("Kyouya!!" "What? I'm not saying everything") Ryuuichi's eyes widen. He hadn't expected that. Maybe the Vongola part but Cavallone too? He wasn't able to ask anymore before he was blasted back to the past.

When he was back in Tsuna's room, he saw Dino's troubled face, Reborn's unfazed, usual facade, and Tsuna's red cheeks that he was rubbing. 'My older self must have said something...' He tch-ed a little. He didn't managed to ask the older Dino and Hibari about it. 'Maybe I had something or had done something during the time period to be a member of Cavallone.... But...'

He couldn't help but think that it was the former.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dino and Reborn were alone together in Tsuna's room. The brunette had sent Ryuuichi back since it has gotten quite late, forced to actually. They were having a little chat about Tsuna, but Reborn suddenly brought up Ryuuichi.

"Why did you look surprised when Ryuuichi introduced himself. And what were you hiding from him?"

His ex-student, then looked reluctant to say anything. "W-well.... A few stuff..." Dino couldn't really say it. He had promised that he won't say anything if he meet Ryuuichi. Even if it's a one in a billion chance. He quickly raised up his hands when Reborn cocked his gun at him. "Whoah time out time out!!"

"Tell me, Baka-Dino. Or else" The gun glinted. "Alright alright!!" Dino sighed. "Ryuuichi... Well... Was one way or another involved with my family..." He sighed again. "I meant mafia stuff."

Reborn raised an eyebrow. "He already knew about the mafia. Vongola and I presume, about Cavallone too"

"..........What?!" Reborn nodded. "He himself told me about it. Though he didn't say how he knew..." 'Not to mention that he was keeping loads and loads of secret...'

Dino couldn't believe it. How the hell did that one person whom he had promised to not be told at about anything regarding the mafia knows. Maybe he found it out by himself? But that is quite impossible. 'Just how....'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having Ryuuichi blasted to the future wasn't really a part of the plan.. But... Oh well.
> 
> Note= Changed the sentence 'I'm really sharp after all' to 'He'll catch it up fast'.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars,spelling,etc.etc. mistakes]


	6. Overreacting Cavallone, Sick Skylark and Ranking Fuuta

"Hey girl, wanna go grab some coffee for tea after this?" Ryuuichi felt like puking. He couldn't believe it. Shamal is actually hitting on him. Maybe because the perverted doctor could feel the inner female- Nope. No. Stop. That's disgusting. He currently had his back facing Shamal. Apparently, he had became the school's doctor, and had cured Tsuna from his skull disease. Ryuuichi was getting some bandages from the empty infirmary.

He had accidentally hit himself on the left elbow at a door, and it was bleeding, so he wanted to wrap it up to avoid getting infection. Shamal, who probably went out to hit on someone, suddenly came in. He was busy fumbling with the bandages with one hand and didn't noticed the perverted doctor until his arms were grabbed. He almost elbowed him in the gut out of reflexes if not for his injury.

Seriously, is the doctor blinded? Can't he see him in a male's uniform? Ok. From now on, he will (Secretly) call Shamal Perverted Blind Doctor. He turned around and gave the doctor a good shock, having a deadpanned face on. "Shamal-san. Please get your eyes checked"

He watched the doctor in glee as Shamal shuddered in disgust at the fact he had touched a male. "Ryuuichi?" He turned towards the other side and saw Reborn standing by the door before jumping up on a table. "You're injured?"

"Accidentally hit the edge of a door" Ryuuichi paid no mind at the two and continued to fumble with the bandages. Shamal, who couldn't stand watching him like struggle, let out an exaggerated sigh. He went and offered help, much to his own dismay. He wondered what was wrong with him, to help a male student. A male!!

The teen raised an eyebrow at him. "Wow. It's not everyday you see the womanizer who claimed that he doesn't help guys slash hitman helping a guy" Shamal was thrown away. He turned towards Reborn in shock, eyes wide. "He knew?!" Reborn nodded. He couldn't believe that his guy who looked like a girl (Seriously, Shamal. Get your eyes checked) knew about the mafias stuff and all.

Ryuuichi smirked. "I knew a lot more than you could ever think of, Shamal-san" He moved his arms slightly when Shamal's done, and nodded, satisfied. He stood up and walked away. "Thanks"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dino couldn't believe it. He wanted to shout out loud at Reborn and cuss him. 'Why the hell did he get Ryuuichi involved in this?!??!' He, Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto had when to the Mountain of Death, forced by Reborn, apparently who was training his little(self proclaimed) brother.

He and Reborn was sitting by a kotatsu that emerged out of nowhere, eating mandarin oranges while watching Tsuna's so called training, who was tied up on a rock, under a water fall. Ryuuichi than suddenly popped out, claiming that Reborn was the one who called him. He didn't have a problem with that at first, but when a large Enzo came into the picture, well, let's just say everything went down hill from there.

They ended up getting lost in the forest after trying to run away from the giant turtle. And Dino was panicking when Ryuuichi got injured. For some reason, after their meeting the first time and a few more afterwards, Dino had a sense of protectiveness over the teen. Ryuuichi gave him a feeling of someone who needed to be protected, yet he did not. His mixed feelings got the best of him and he was beyond frustrated. At first he thought that the cause is because of the secret and promise he had not said, but overtime(Even though it's only like two to four meetings with him), he realized that it wasn't because of it.

Ryuuichi watched the Cavallone boss, who was so deep in his thoughts and was pulling on his hair, with a raised eyebrow. He wondered why the hell Dino was acting like that. Not to mention he was quite clinging every time they met. Once he bumped into him on the streets while Ryuuichi was buying something, alone, and he had stuck to him the whole day til he goes home.

He was about to tap the taller male's shoulder because he wasn't listening to him when pain shot through his body. His left arm collided with a tree when all of them fall down from the bridge, probably swollen right now. Not to mention he just had his left elbow injured recently. Fortunately, he still can move them, meaning it wasn't broken. He sighed in relief, but jolted when Dino suddenly grabbed his arm.

"What's wrong?"

He shot him a glare and tugged back his arm, cradling it. "It's nothing" Reborn, who was sitting on a tree's branch intervened. "It's not 'Nothing', right? You're injured. Not to mention you just got your elbow injured recently" Ryuuichi cluck his tongue. Everyone immediately gathered near him, asking whether he's alright.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You guys are too near!!"

At that, they all backed up a little, not wanting to discomfort the teen further. Ryuuichi experimentally rolled his shoulders and rotated his arm slightly. The pain subsided a little afterwards. He sighed when Reborn suddenly suggested that they would stay for a night in the forest, seeing that they do not know the way back and it's getting dark. Bull shit. Reborn clearly knows the way back. He just wanted to mess with them.

Along the way, they reached a cave, and guess who popped out? Bianchi. Gokudera who saw his sister immediately fell, stomach churning. Apparently she was collecting poisonous mushroom and got lost, though she denied it.

Ryuuichi sighed, tired of all these commotions. "Kyoko-san, Haru-san, I-pin, Lambo" He simply called out, and the four of them popped out from the cave. He simply just knew it. Silently, he wondered why were they always involved.

Dino, who immediately fell into boss mode, ordered everyone to collect branches, saying to make a fire as a SOS signal and to ward of animals. When he saw Ryuuichi who was going to help, bent down and grab the few branches and twigs on the ground, he immediately stopped him. "Ryuuichi. It's ok! You can just rest by the side"

The teen raised an eyebrow "Dude. I'm injured. Not crippled" He simply gathered them anyway, ignoring the blonde. After they gathered a whole bunch of stuffs that could be burn, Gokudera immediately offered to light it up with his dynamites. Curse Bianchi for suddenly making him turn to her. He accidentally threw the dynamites and ended up with a forest fire. Lambo, who panicked, threw his grenades everywhere, making their only exit through the cave sealed up. Tsuna to the rescue!!

For the nth times, he sighed. He simply stood near the cave and watched everyone panicked. Tsuna ended up digging up a water vein, resulting a small rain over them and they, soaked. Fortunately, the fire was put out. Unfortunately, a giant sized Enzo appeared!! Probably because of the water.

Conclusion, Tsuna getting squashed.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had brought two bouquets of sunflowers and was in the hospital. No, he wasn't injured or anything. He was visiting Tsuna. That brunette ended up in the hospital after he was flatten by the turtle in the Mountain of Death. Sometimes Ryuuichi wondered why did he put up with their antics. Oh wait. It's because he needed answer. But that still doesn't mean that he has to follow them.

He first visited Tsuna and was very amused. Apparently he came at the right time where the brunette changed to a private room. All because of Dino. Who else?

"Here. Hope you have a quick recovery" He gave one of the bouquets he had brought to the brunette, with a soft smile. Tsuna thanked him, and question why did he had another one. He simply smirked at him. "Oh you'll know a little later" His amusement piked up when he could see Tsuna shuddering a little because of his smirk. He chuckled and left. "See you a little later, Tsunayoshi"

Ryuuichi went to the waiting room, and put on his headphone, silencing whatever commotion would happen later. He took out his phone and played with it a little. He simply spent his time on his phone while listening to random songs as loud explosions and shouts resonated through the whole hospital. Decided that it's time, he pushed down his headphone and let it rest on his shoulders, stood up from the sofa in the waiting room and walked to a certain prefect's hospital room.

Really, his timing was really great. He managed to appear exactly the same time Tsuna was 'bitten to death' by Hibari. He leaned on the door frame. "Hibari, that's enough" He gave a loop sided smile for the raven head teen when he finally stopped. "Yo"

Hibari raised an eyebrow. It wasn't everyday you could see Ryuuichi when it's not a school day. He saw a bouquet on his hand and asked. "What is that?"

Ryuuichi chuckled. He simply walked into the room, and place the flowers on the table beside Hibari's bed. A few nurses immediately came in and took Tsuna away. He silently sympathized the poor brunette, a little worried too. "It's a gift for you." He walked towards a plastic chair, dragged it near Hibari's bed and sat down. "You're still recovering aren't you?" He didn't gave the prefect a chance to retort and patted the bed.

"Come on." A tonfa was about to hit him on the head, luckily he dodged. "I don't take orders from anyone" He sighed, already knew that the prefect would say that. "I don't order people. I merely request" It's quite true. Ryuuichi never liked to be ordered, or ordering as the matter of fact. So every time he told someone to do something, it was always as a request. He would never force them to follow it, unless it's necessary, of course.

Hibari smirked. "Is that so?" Surprisingly, he obediently went to bed, except, he had pulled Ryuuichi onto it too. "I'm going to sleep now. I'll bite you to death if you dare to move away" His smirk only got larger when the teen protested, saying something about him needing to go home. He slowly drifted to sleep, ignoring the struggling teen and kept a vice grip on him. He vaguely heard his body pillow said that he'll go home in the evening no matter what, promptly had given up.

For once, Hibari didn't mind physical contact, if you're called Shiroki Ryuuichi of course. If not, you'll be bitten to death.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yuuichi was debating whether to skip school or not. Why did this day exist? 14th February. Valentine's Day. The day where he had to run away from squealing girls and all. The fact that he is a basketball star didn't help either, not that he wanted to brag. His twin brother weren't having it better. Ryuuichi was one of the people who couldn't say no to anyone. Even if he did, people would bring out the big guns. Puppy eyes. It was a way to make him succumb, and it always sucessful.

Suddenly, Yuuichii felt better. At least he could say no and can tolerate the puppy eyes.

In the end, they went to school anyway. Ryuuichi had insisted on going. He wasn't going to skip classes just to avoid this blasted day. It shouldn't be bad, right?

Wrong!

Just as the twins changed into their indoor shoes, chocolates fell out of it. Basically quite full(A teacher who was passing by, somehow had predicted it and gave them two plastic bags) Once they had all of it filled in the bags, they went to class. When they got into it, girls suddenly surrounded them, asking them to accept their chocolates. The bags ended up full by the time their teacher came into the class.

The twins waited for the first half of classes to pass and right when the recess bell rang, the two immediately ran out of classroom, bags in tow and begun their hide and seek with the girls, only, there's a lot of seekers. They were only running for like 2 minutes and girls were already hot on their tails. On the way, they saw Yamamoto, Gokudera and Tsuna, whom the taller two were surrounded by girls too. They exchanged look before Ryuuichi said. "You grab Yamamoto. I'll grab Gokudera and Tsunayoshi"

They zoomed pass them, and dragged the trio along, resulting more girls chasing them.

Seeing that they couldn't outrun the girls, Ryuuichi lead them to a certain place, where no girls would dare to come. The reception room. Hibari should be in there and he can keep the girls away from them.

"HIBARI!!! HELP!!!" Ryuuichi slammed open the door and pushed Yuuichi and Tsuna and his guardian inside the room and slammed the door close one he was inside, locking the door. He and Yuuichi immediately fell onto the ground, exhausted. Gokudera and Yamamoto thanked them, while Tsuna wondered why was he dragged too.

"Small animal.... What is the meaning of this" There you go, Hibari in all his glory, fighting stance on and tonfa ready to strike anyone. Ryuuichi sheepishly scratched the back of his head "Let us hide here before the bell rings? Please?"

The two had a staring contest for a while, before Hibari huffed, when back to his paper works. "Do as you please." The others were shocked, wondering how did the teen managed to tame the wild beast "But if you're noisy...." A glare was shot to them "I'll bite you all to death"

Well, let's just hope that they could get home unscathed.(Probably not)

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shiroki Ryuuichi. Strength ranked 297. Intelligence ranked 19. Mental strength ranked 10." Ryuuichi blinked. Right in front of him sat Fuuta De La Stella. The nine years old kid suddenly ranked him when he walked into Tsuna's room. He turned towards Reborn in questioning. "Did you told him to rank me?"

He could see the amusement twinkling in Reborn's eyes. "Oh? You know about Fuuta?" Well, he didn't mind anyway. He was a bit curious anyway. He waited for Fuuta to finish writing in his book before patting him on the head. "Hello, kiddo" He smiled warmly at him. He didn't realized that he had a soft spot for the little boy until he personally meet him.

Fuuta felt the warm hand on his head and felt a familiar feeling bubbling in him. He unconsciously leaned in to the hand and smiled brightly at him. Haru then suddenly waltzed in and asked him to rank her, and Reborn next. Tsuna sat beside Ryuuichi who was laughing, with a disbelieved look at his rankings.

Ryuuichi really had a great laugh. Fuuta's ranking on Reborn's is so out of the world that he couldn't help but die internally. And then Gokudera suddenly popped out along with Yamamoto and got ranked. It was all so hilarious that he thought his stomach was going to explode. He looked out the window and saw rain drops falling. And Bianchi's appearance didn't helped either. His mother hen mode immediately went off when Fuuta felt terrible. He immediately place him on Tsuna's bed and covered him with the blanket.

"There's a theory that Fuuta's communication with the ranking planet will be interrupted when it rains. So his ranking will be a bunch of nonsensical stuff"

Ryuuichi chuckled at Tsuna's face. Seriously, a lot of them seems to like messing around with Tsuna no matter how you see it. 'Fuuta will get captured...' "Reborn. Do you have a bow and arrow? I need to borrow it"

Reborn raised an eyebrow. Why did the teen wanted to borrow something like that? Nonetheless, took out what Ryuuichi needed and gave it to him. Please don't ask him where did he got such thing out of nowhere. Just, don't.

Gokudera, Yamamoto and Tsuna exchanged a weird-out look, wondering why he needed them. Haru, well, was just being Haru, but she was the one who spotted a loads of men in black, holding umbrellas outside Tsuna's house. Gokudera went into action and spied them. "They're from the Todd Family"

Tsuna couldn't help but get a little angry. Why must a kid like Fuuta get involved in such a dangerous world like mafia? It's not just Fuuta, Lambo and I-pin too. He and the others discussed about how to help Fuuta and didn't notice that Ryuuichi and Bianchi had walked off. Bianchi went out of the front, and walked away without a word while Ryuuichi, who was behind her walked towards the direction of the park, where Fuuta and Tsuna will be later on. He glared at the men, who shivered. " _I'll personally skin anyone of you alive if you dare to even think about him after this_ " He said in Italian. The men didn't managed to shoot back at him, he already disappeared, the bow and arrow he borrowed in tow.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sighed. 'Why did I hide up on this tree again...?' He was slowly questioning his sanity. Ever since he got closer to the others, he had been doing tonnes of stuff that he thought he would never do. For example, waltzing into the mountain of death like no ones' business, and promptly almost killed himself in the process. Luckily he only injured his left arm, which elbow's already injured before. And then, when he visited Tsuna at the hospital, he was forced to stay the whole day with Hibari for some reason he doesn't understand.

Even though he knew what would happen, why did he had to participate is something he himself don't know.

His thoughts were cut off when he saw Fuuta and Tsuna, cornered by three men. He stayed in the trees quietly, and watched what would happen. A bullet, which he presumed is the Dying Will bullet was shot from a pole not far away. He watched Tsuna who Reborn-ed beating them up. When he finished and walked away with Fuuta, He went down. He crouched down in front of the one who supposedly to be the boss, and warned them in Italian. " _If any of you step into Namimori once more, I would tell the demon of Namimori to hunt you down. If not, I'll personally let you see hell_ "

Right at the same time, a teen with white beanie and spectacles appeared. 'Shit. I forgotten about him...' Looks like he would have to put some use on his current bow and arrows after all... Or not..

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, This is the end of the first arc. Second arc beginning on the next chapter. The timeline is a bit weird so here's a little explanation.
> 
> On the previous chapter, Yuuichi was mentioned that he's in Tokyo for Interhigh, school-based basketball competition(I think). And in this chapter, he was back on Valentine's day.
> 
> Let's just say, Yuuichi's team won the district level and was back for a break. In the next chapter, he would be gone for another week, to participate for whole japan level this time. Something like that...?
> 
> Anyway I didn't really know what to write for this chapter, so I kinda like wrote weird stuffs in? Especially the Valentine's part. That part wasn't exactly based on the story's episode but it's true that Yamamoto and Gokudera are famous and Tsuna's the opposite, no offense. Hibari was untouched even though he was famous too. Basically most of his fans were scared to give him their chocolates and no one dares to get close to him even by a meter that day.
> 
> Fun fact. I actually injured my elbow two days ago. It wasn't anything major tho.
> 
> Another fun fact. Hibari basically had forced Ryuuichi to spar with him on Valentine's because Ryuuichi didn't give him any (Please, it's not like Ryuuichi had given chocolates to anyone), with Ryuuichi ended up running away from him too.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars,spelling,etc.etc.mistakes]


	7. Rokudo Mukuro

Hibari was beyond pissed. The past weeks, the student of Namimori, especially the members of the Disciplinary Committee had been attacked. He's so pissed that most would stay a few foot away from him. Not to mention that Ryuuichi was absent for a few days too(He didn't suspected much because Yuuichi was absent too). When he heard that Tsuna said someone must have a grudge on the Disciplinary Committee, he immediately said the opposite. He greeted the baby and went forward to Tsuna and set things straight.

Suddenly he felt an evil intent and turned around with his tonfa in hand, hitting Shamal right on the back of his head. Shamal's trident mosquito had stung him, surprisingly he didn't realized it at all.

Apparently this day isn't going to be better anytime soon. His phone rang and the school anthem played. A member of the Committee had reported that Sasagawa Ryohei was attacked. He turned to Tsuna and told him the news. While he himself, went to a certain place.

Upon arriving at the destination, students from Kokuyo Middle had ambushed him, attacking him once at sight. But, he took all of them out in record time. All of them are weak. He flicked the blood of his tonfa and simply strode into the run-down building of Kokuyo Land.

When he finally reached the supposedly master mind of all the attacks, who was sitting on a tattered sofa, he smirked.

"Right now, right here, I'll bite you to death"

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi couldn't believe it. He was kidnapped by Kakimoto Chikusa and brought to Rokudo Mukuro. Seriously. If he remembered it correctly, the one kidnapped was Fuuta only and no one else. He was currently tied up in a run-down room, with little injuries, luckily(If you considered a sprain a small injury, that is). Mukuro was interested in him somehow. Apparently, he tried to possess his mind but wasn't able to. Something was blocking him to possess him. Ryuuichi figured that it could be because his mental strength is strong. Like Fuuta had mentioned. He was a bit proud at it, somehow.

It has been three days though, curse his carelessness. Fortunately, Yuuichi was still in Tokyo and won't be back until the next weekend. The bow and arrow laid around the corner of the room, but he couldn't grab it. He was currently with Fuuta, who was guarding him. If he do something, Fuuta might get hurt so he stayed put. The three days, he would try to talk some sense into Fuuta. But perhaps it was Mukuro, he couldn't seem to get to him.

A loud clash of metal against metal made him jumped. 'Hibari...!' If he's not wrong, Hibari would lose and beaten to the brink of death. He gritted his teeth when the clashing stopped after a little while, perhaps Mukuro had shown him the sakura flowers. 'Damn.... Tsuna... Hurry up!!'

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari was furious. The Kokuyo Middle's leader did not only dared to try and take over his control over Namimori, but also had threaten him. He ignored the pain and was about to attack Mukuro again, only to be paralyzed when cherry blossoms suddenly appeared. He suddenly felt sick at the supposedly beautiful sight. Mukuro who saw the chance and attacked the prefect, hurting his pride at the same time.

Before Hibari fully blacked out, his mind was thinking about Ryuuichi. In the middle of the fight, the blue haired herbivore mentioned about Ryuuichi, and only then he realized the cause of the small animal's absent. Curse him for not noticing it earlier. He swore that he'll bite the teen to death for getting himself kidnapped.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

About five hours had pass since Ryuuichi last heard the clashes of metal. His throat was getting a little too dry. Ryuuichi didn't know when he fell asleep in the time period and only had woken up when Mukuro tugged him by the chin to look at him. His mind was a little muddled, still slightly half asleep. When his eyesight got better, he could see the smirk adorning the blue haired male. "Awaken, sleeping beauty~?"

Ryuuichi cringed a little, being called a sleeping beauty by the damn pineapple was the last thing he wanted. "What is it?" He asked while looking straight into Mukuro's heterochromia eyes . He's not going to beat around the bushes with the teen that can literally bring him to hell. Apparently, he had amused the heck out of Mukuro, probably not a good thing.

"Straight forward, aren't you?" Mukuro chuckled. He had never met someone, so interesting, so mysterious and so... remarkably captivating. Ryuuichi was the first person he had encountered that never succumb to his power. When he tried to intrude the teen's mind, to bring out his weakness and promptly torture him, he saw nothing, as though he was an empty vessel. It was clear that he has a lot on his mind and was totally the opposite of an empty vessel, but Mukuro can't seem to find them.

He looked into the dark brown orbs, that held the one emotion that he believed that no one would show it to him. Concern was swirling in those pair of eyes. There were a few more things that he couldn't understand, and he had refused to believe that the concern in Ryuuichi's eyes were towards him. (But deep down, he knew it was really shown to him) No matter how hard he search, he couldn't see fear, hate nor disgust.

Mukuro quickly shook the thought out and smirked. "Just wondering, why is that someone so innocent like you, is involved in the disgusting world of mafia?" The last thing one would call Ryuuichi was innocent. He was totally the opposite of 'innocent'. He blinked, not really know how to answer. It was quite a good question. Even Ryuuichi didn't really know why, but he just had the want to get involved, though.

"To find answers"

It was strange to Mukuro. How would the mafia provides answers? Then again, this teen is quite strange anyway, in a good way. "Kufufufu~ Is that so?"

Ryuuichi's eyes narrowed. He was worried because if Mukuro continues with his plans, he, without a doubt, would be captured by the Vindice. Briefly, he wondered if he stop Mukuro now, will the changes in the story be big? His mind was in a dilemma, should he stop Mukuro?

"Mukuro. Stop all this before it's too late" The blue haired teen was slightly blown away. Did Ryuuichi knew about his plan? How? But, he won't stop. There's no way he will. He would definitely get the Vongola Tenth, and he would destroy the mafia world. He won't back down, not after all the pain and suffering he had went through.

"Shut up" He let go of the teen and walked out of the room, glancing side way at the teen. "Nothing can stop me right now" His heterochromatic eyes flared slightly before he closed the door. He ignored the continuous shouts of his name from Ryuuichi. How dare he tell him to stop, when he had the slightest idea of what he had been through, of what they all have been through.

"Mukuro-san" He smirked.

"Let's begin"

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Damn!!" Ryuuichi cussed. Mukuro had ignored his warning, his plead for him to stop. With him tied up like this and had a sprain on his ankle, he couldn't do much. Not to mention that Fuuta's still in his control. Though, Ryuuichi refused to simply just do nothing. He struggled against his restrain, which was ropes. He hissed in pain that coursed through his being. His tied up wrist behind him probably were raw from all his struggling.

He suddenly remembered reading something from the internet. 'If I do like this....' He fumbled a little before he felt the ropes loosen, silently celebrating. He quietly untied his legs after he got his hand out, raw and red like he had expected it would be. Silently, he crept towards his bow and arrow, not wanting to awaken the sleeping Fuuta. Though, much to his horror, the 9 years old child had woken up. 'Shit...'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna was horrified, worried and scared. When he heard that Ryohei was attacked, he hadn't expected that it would be related to him, to the mafia but Reborn clarified it after he said that it was a count down and sorts. Next, Reborn showed him the rankings of Namimori Middle's students' fighting strength, and the fact that Kusakabe Tetsuya, the vice president of Disciplinary Committee, he had believed the hitman. He was currently running towards Gokudera, who was at probably near the shops since there was explosions frantically because the bomber was the 3rd on the list, after Kusakabe who was fourth.

When he finally saw the injured Gokudera, who had won. He was relieved but it didn't last long because Chikusa didn't die. His eyes immediately shut tightly when the teen in glasses attacked him, only to be protected by Gokudera. He was about to be attacked by Chikusa again if not for Yamamoto's sudden appearance and had skidded him to safety.

Luckily for them, the police came which rendered Chikusa no choice but to retreat.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

"What?!"

Reborn kicked Tsuna and had landed right on the ground elegantly (How he managed it was a mystery). Yamamoto and Tsuna along with Reborn had sent Gokudera to Shamal, who was forced to help him, before they went home. On the way, Reborn had told them that the ones who attacked the Gokudera and the others victim were three escaped prisoners whom all had enrolled into Kokuyo Land, and that their leader's name was Rokudo Mukuro.

He also had said that these three had been cast out by the mafia, before getting out a letter from the Ninth boss of Vongola, Timoteo, when Tsuna was denying on apprehending the three. Kyuudaime had given him order, to capture Rokudo Mukuro and the rest, and to rescue their captives.

Reborn regrettably said that their captives are people whom Tsuna and his two best friend knew well. He himself was in a turmoil. How did the one person he couldn't understand be one of the captives was probably something he wouldn't know. But he also knew that Rokudo Mukuro is a dangerous and powerful person, so it didn't really surprise him much. Even so, why was  _he_  involved in it too?

Silently, Reborn hoped that  _he_ 's alright.

Tsuna ended up with no choice but to follow Kyuudaime's order, much to his chagrin. His worries and fear did not subside as time passed. Nope. It shot up so high that he thought that he would never sleep that night. He wondered who was the captives that Reborn had mentioned. The hitman didn't told him the names and left him hanging.

Unknown to probably all except Reborn, Nana herself was worried. She had heard that another Nami-Middle's student was attack. She was worried for not only for her son's safety, but also the children whom she had long considered her children. She heard that most of the students attacked had ended up in the hospital, and that did not helped at all.

She could still remember the time when Tsuna was admitted into hospital, because of a slight accident during training as Reborn had told her. She hoped that her only son would stop getting himself into dangerous situation, though, she knew that it wasn't possible. Her son was becoming more and more like his father (In a good way), and was starting to hide stuffs from her.

Despite that, she couldn't just interfere with what Tsuna had chosen(Forced or not), so she wished that Reborn and Tsuna's friend would look after him. A particular loud sigh erupted from her lips.

In the shadow, Reborn was watching, reading, Nana's thought and every move of hers. He could read the wish of hers, and tugged down his fedora before going back into Tsuna's room. 'I'll, Maman' Apparently, Nana wasn't as ditsy as everyone had expected after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter for the second arc, the Kokuyo Arc. This chapter is quite short because this arc would probably be the shortest arc of all, so its at least two or three chapters.
> 
> Thus, this arc's chapters will be shorter than Daily Life Arc's chapters. The part that was focused on Tsuna, Reborn and Nana wasn't exactly like the anime or manga, the timeline and what they were thinking I mean. As for Nana's part, it's also wasn't exactly in the manga or anime. I was just trying to hit 2k words.
> 
> P/S= What I write always comes out in a confusing way so I apologize if this chapter was hard to understand. And I seriously can't believe that whenever I write, things will go the different way than I've expected. Well, probably because I didn't really thought much on the first three arcs..... Whatever.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	8. Kokuyo Land Invasion

The next morning, Reborn and Tsuna, joined by Gokudera, Yamamoto and Bianchi, had went to Kokuyo Land. Tsuna was slightly baffled at both Yamamoto and Bianchi, seeing that they've made bento for the day, probably thinking that it was a field trip even though it was supposed to be an invasion. He was shaken a little, and was fearing for the worst.

Before they knew it, they were already in front of the run-down and abandoned place. Suddenly, memories when he was younger came back to him. He had been here before. He remembered that he had came here along with his parents. It was all lively and colourful in the past. But now? He felt sad when the place was all gloomy. The front gate was chained up and locked but it was nothing to them, or to Bianchi to be exact. (The woman literally used poison cooking on the gate and had somehow melted the lock)

Tsuna guided them seeing that he was the only one who had been here before, and with his hazy memories, he lead them to the spot where a exhibit of flora and fauna in a glass building supposed to be, but there weren't any. Until, that is, Yamamoto was attacked. The baseball star had to jump back to avoid being hit and had fallen down as the ground sudden gave way. Apparently, the glass building was buried under all the dirt the five of them were standing. (It's a wonder how the hell the tall glass building managed to be buried)

Joshima Ken, a blonde teen in Kokuyo Middle's uniform and a long scar across his face, jumped in to the hole where Yamamoto had fallen into, and had started attacking. Yamamoto immediately took out the bat that given by Reborn and had it turned into a long sword but it was instantly broken after he used it to defend himself against Ken's attack. He being the usual him asked the teen whether had he changed his appearance after taking off the baseball bat's bag from his shoulder, which the latter explained to him about the cartridges. Ken changed into Kong channel and then Wolf channel. Tsuna was very worried about Yamamoto and resulted himself being kicked down by Reborn.

Ken wanted to finish off Tsuna since he seem weak, only to be hit by a rock thrown by Yamamoto. In the end, Yamamoto ended up sacrificing his left hand to defeat Ken who was in Cheetah channel. (Which Tsuna couldn't help but feel guilty because there was a baseball game coming out and Yamamoto had just had to sacrifice his arm to save him)

After they were pulled out of the hole, they patched up Yamamoto, before they continued their journey further into the abandoned place. Til at one point, they decided to take a break and have lunch. Yamamoto pulled out the bentos he had brought for them, all with delicious sushi while Bianchi had pulled out a glass of poison cooking and wanted Tsuna do drink it. But the drink suddenly exploded, along with the sushi.

Bianchi exclaimed that it wasn't the work of poison cooking as they took refuge behind ceramic tables that they were using. Then M.M. came into picture. She was holding her clarinet, and explained that the musical waves emitted from her clarinet was so high it could make things explode, or something like that.

Let's just say she had messed with the wrong people because Bianchi fought against her, claiming that she wasn't going to let M.M. disturb Reborn's nap. She ended up eating poison cooking when Bianchi touched her clarinet, which also turned into poison cooking.

After the girl, next to appear was a perverted looking old man who probably still doesn't want to admit that he's old seeing that he was also wearing Kokuyo Middle's uniform. Curse that old man named Birds to the seventh hell because he had threaten them to kill Kyoko and Haru, both were targeted by the Bloody Twins, a pair of brutal serial killers, if they were not to follow his orders.

His first order was to punch Tsuna, which Bianchi did but it didn't hurt at all. His second order was to stab Tsuna, with a poisoned dagger and this time, Tsuna was going to do it himself. Fortunately, he didn't have to because the bloody twins were immediately killed by Shamal, Adult I-pin and Adult Lambo(Reborn had told them to guard the two girls, apparently). Before Birds himself could escape, Gokudera had knocked him out with simply just one punch. Weak.

Bianchi suddenly noticed a presence in the shadow, who was Fuuta. The child, with a distressed tone told them that he couldn't stay with Tsuna anymore and would be staying with Mukuro, and had ran away into the forest immediately.

Tsuna, without even a second thought, had chased after the child. The rest was about to follow him but was stopped by a man with a large chained metal ball. Gokudera was about to attack him but the side effect for the medicine for him to move about given by Shamal had surfaced. Bianchi and Yamamoto couldn't even come close to him before they were defeated.

Tsuna met a blue haired guy with his right eyes covered by his hair. The teen claimed to be a captive but Tsuna felt otherwise. Tsuna immediately ran back to his friends, only to see Gokudera and Yamamoto fallen, and Bianchi was trying to protect them from the fake Rokudo Mukuro. He quickly went to Bianchi's aid when the metal ball was about to hit her, after being shot by the last Dying Will Bullet since Leon was in an unstable state. "Reborn!!!"

He managed to defeat the Fake Rokudo Mukuro in a span of five minutes, before the Dying Will dies out. Tsuna had noticed that the guy didn't really wanted to kill anyone because he had closed his eyes when he was about to hit Tsuna. Turned out that the man named Lanchia, was controlled by Rokudo Mukuro. He was about to tell Tsuna about Mukuro's secret only to have protected him from poisonous needles from Chikusa.

Tsuna had placed the unconscious Yamamoto and Lanchia by a tree, and had went into the building along with Gokudera who finally could move, and Bianchi who fortunately wasn't that much injured. Reborn was leading them all.

Along the way searching for the only available staircase, they came across Chikusa. Gokudera offered to hold the glasses teen back and had told the rest to go along, which Chikusa somewhat, gladly let them pass. He said that it was Mukuro's order.

The rest went into a dark room, and saw the blue haired teen Tsuna had met in the forest, sitting on a sofa on the stage and Fuuta, who was also controlled by Mukuro. The child had stabbed Bianchi who was unknowingly shielding the child, with a trident, which rendered her unconscious. Tsuna then ran to attack Mukuro with the whip that Reborn had brought along. Being the clumsy him, Tsuna ended up hitting himself in the face, also at the same time, tangled Fuuta that was running after him with the trident, with the whip.

He noticed that the child's eyes were hazed, and noticed that he had the same one when Lanchia was controlled. He pushed away the fallen trident away from Fuuta's reach. He believed that Mukuro must have made him do something that made him feel guilty. He must have felt that he could never go back to Tsuna again. Tsuna was angry. He was angry that Mukuro had controlled the young child, and had made him suffer.

"You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't do anything wrong at all" Fuuta suddenly halt his movement as he was going to stab Tsuna with the trident now in his grasp again. "We're all your allies, Fuuta, so don't worry and come home" Those words were able to break Fuuta from Mukuro's control. Tears sprang out of the glassy orbs and he had fallen unconscious. "Tsuna-nii...."

"Fuuta!!"

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Gokudera cussed. He cussed himself for being careless. He was fighting against Chikusa and had thought that he had won, when the side effect surfaced again, so he had to lean against a window when suddenly, a hand with sharp claws stabbed him from behind. He slapped away the hand and stumbled. Ken and Chikusa had him cornered.

Gokudera lost his footing and fell from a staircase, covered by a red curtain and landed back first. It hurted so much. His injuries were bleeding non-stop and the side effect weren't helping much either. Suddenly, one of Birds' yellow bird that he had used to take the live video of Kyoko and Haru before, flew and stopped on top of a wall, chirping "Beaten. Beaten"

'Damn it...' He felt awful, irritated that even the perverted old man's bird was laughing (Even though it only chirped) at him. He felt so useless that he couldn't do anything for Juudaime. What kind of right hand man was he? " _Yato, no one is useless. Remember that._ "

'Ryuu...ichi....'

"Midori tanabiku namimori no~" The bird sang, breaking him out of his thoughts. He craned his head towards the bird, and saw a familiar tonfa. "Dai naku shou naku nami ga ii~" He suddenly remembered that Tsuna had said that Hibari's ring tone is their school anthem. He chuckled a little, slipping a dynamite out. Ken and Chikusa saw him getting his dynamite out, and walked towards him.

He threw the lit dynamite towards the wall with the little strength he had left. He chuckled again.

"You're the only one who likes school song that much"

The wall crumbled, dust and sand flew about. Once it was cleared, a beaten up Hibari was revealed. He was sitting with a leg propped up and face covered by his own crossed arms that were supported on the propped up leg's knee. He finally raised his head up when Chikusa mentioned his name. He felt a bit pissed when the animal-like herbivore insulted him. He stood up, stumbling a little. "I could have gotten out myself, but.. This works." He stood straight, a smirk adorned on his lips. "Leave those two to me"

The yellow bird landed on his shoulder, the bird he had tamed (How he did it in such a short time was a mystery) was singing his favourite song(And the only one... Probably). "Then I'll have them" He declared the ownership on the yellow bird.

Ken clearly underestimated him, and ran straight towards the prefect in his Lion channel. Hibari immediately kicked up his tonfa from the ground and countered the attacks. With just two hit, he swiftly thrown the animal-like teen up and out of the window. Next, Chikusa. "I'll bite you to death next"

\------------------------------------------------------------------

"Damn...."

Everything hurts. His cheek were probably bruised from the slap he received, his body probably were covered with bruises from punches and kicks too. At least, he didn't broke any bone other than the sprain, and a dislocated shoulder. Lights shone from the small window of the room as he lied on the side of his good shoulder. He probably had knocked out after the beating session from M.M.

Mukuro had sent that girl to beat him up after he was caught from trying to escape. He was a little relieved that the blue haired teen didn't sent Ken or Chikusa otherwise, his injuries would probably be worst. Damn he was disliking the girl even more than he did before. And damn that he could never hurt a girl.

He could briefly felt vibrations from somewhere in the building. Tsuna and the rest must have arrived. Fuuta probably was with them now seeing that the child wasn't with him when he woken up. That's good. His mind then wondered to Tsuna, to Bianchi, to Yamamoto, to Gokudera, to Lanchia, and finally to Hibari. He hoped that they're alright(Despite already knowing it), especially Gokudera and Hibari. Hibari probably was the one with most injuries. He couldn't help but worry that the prefect would overwork his body but he knew, that he would be alright. All of them will. Even though they didn't really showed teamwork except for Yamamoto and probably Tsuna, he knew that they, without a doubt would work together.

And he meant the bomber and the prefect. Especially them.

His eyes slowly closed, succumbing to sleep, finally feeling relieved after these 4 days.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that there weren't much conversation going on in this chapter until the second half of it. Well, basically there weren't much in the previous chapters anyway, but this chapter's.... Whatever.
> 
> I've also just realized that I didn't really explain much about the conditions of the character's surrounding in the previous chapters and this one too. Well, I'll just leave it to your imaginations.
> 
> I don't really like M.M. that much. I don't know why but ever since I saw her, I'm quite annoyed. And the fact that she just had go and slap Chrome.
> 
> Anyway, the next chapter would be the last chapter for the second arc. I did mentioned that this arc would be shorter than most, didn't I? After that, I probably would write a chapter before the third arc starts. Just to stop the tension and all for a little. Might be longer but I don't know. Who knows.
> 
> Ryuuichi was kidnapped for 4 days. Yep.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling,etc.etc. mistakes] [AND FOR ANY CONFUSION IN THIS CHAPTER]


	9. Victory

"It seems like he has crashed because of what you have said" Mukuro said. He explained that the unconscious child hadn't really slept in the past few days. Mukuro and his underlings had came to Japan to find the Vongola Tenth, and because Fuuta knew who was it, they've captured him and kept him captivated and was under Mukuro's mind control. Even so, the ranking child had refused to speak anything about Tsuna. It was quite impressive, really. But not as impressive as the unconscious teen in the other room beside's the one they're in.

Tsuna was angry. How could Mukuro do this to Fuuta. How could he do such thing to an innocent child. "Rokudo Mukuro!! What do you think people are?!!" He yelled. His anger only increased when he was answered with "They are toys" He rushed in, with the whip in hand, and ran towards Mukuro.

Mukuro, who stood up from his seat, and rushed towards Tsuna too with a long staff, and crossed path but Tsuna was the one who was hurt. Reborn noticed that when Mukuro attacked, his red eye with the number six changed to number 4 in kanji. That eye was glowing with Dying Will flame.

Mukuro bent down, took the trident and attached it to the staff. He turned towards the kneeling brunette and explained that flame he had saw is the Fourth Path, a combat skill that he had learnt from the Path of Asura, in another words, Transmigration through the Six Worlds(When people die, they are reborn as a demon, a hungry ghost, a beast, an Asura, a human, or a deva) He had being through all six realms and had attained all six combat skill from the six underworlds

The number on his red eye changed again, this time, the First Path, The Path of Hell. The floor started to crumble beneath them all and if not for Reborn slapping him, Tsuna probably won't realize that it was all an illusion. He was terrified.

Suddenly, real poisonous snakes started falling out of nowhere, the Third Path, The Path of Beasts. Mukuro was pinning Reborn to help Tsuna but the cursed infant, the sun Arcobaleno wasn't fazed. Mukuro felt a murderous intent and had turned around just in time to deflect a flying tonfa. Dynamites were in the air as a certain bomber shouted for Tsuna to duck, snakes all killed and smoke surrounded him.

Once the smoke dispersed, he saw Gokudera and Hibari, both clinging onto each other by the entrance. They were both injured and tattered. He was relieved, really relieved when he saw them. "Did you understand now? I didn't raise only Tsuna" The said teen narrowed his eyes.

"I've paid you back now" Hibari said as he let go and pushed Gokudera off his shoulder, making the bomber to fell on the floor. He walked towards his other tonfa and grabbed it, ignoring the conversation between the rest. "Have you prepared yourself?" He said towards Mukuro. He's pissed alright. Yes, the pain was unbearable because of his broken bones, but he would not be beaten just by that. Not until he knows where was  _he_.

The two immediately attacked each other, sound of metal crashing against each other resonated the whole place until Hibari came to a halt. His wound bled non-stop and dripped onto the ground. Mukuro's eye changed into the kanji one, and sakura flowers appeared, pink petals slowly floated down. The blue haired teen must have thought that he still has the Sakura-Kura disease, but he was so wrong. Hibari paused a while before rushing towards him and managed to hit him. Blood slowly trailed down from his lips.

He seriously weren't expecting it. Apparently, Gokudera had gotten the medicine for Hibari from Shamal. As he wasn't paying attention, Hibari hit him again for the final time. He flew back a few foot and the illusion disappeared. Black spots started to appear and Hibari blacked out. "Ryuuichi..."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

He had been drifting in and out of sleep for the past hours. He didn't have the energy to think at all. He felt so tired. Even more than previously. He briefly wondered whether they would even notice him. He certainly hope they do. He so did not wanted to stay in this dark, cold place any longer.

Suddenly, he heard the familiar metal clashes again. 'Hi-bari..' He remembered that the prefect would immediately went unconscious after hitting Mukuro twice. And then, Mukuro would shot himself with the Possession Bullet that was supposed to be whipped out from people's knowledge. If he remembered it correctly, Mukuro was the one who created the bullet. He, Ken and Chikusa were from the Estraneo Family. They were experimented on, and treated as human guinea pigs. They were human experiments.

He hated the Estraneo Family. He hated them for experimenting on children. On human. He refuses to call those people human. No. They were lower than human. At least they were all death, minus Mukuro and the others, fortunately.

A gun shot suddenly surprised the hell out of Ryuuichi, finally got him wide awake. He then realized that the gun shot was too loud, and too near. '... Then again.. The metal clashes sounded close by too....' He groaned, carefully pushed himself off the ground onto sitting position, minding his dislocated shoulders.

He bit onto his lips and slowly pushed the bones back in place. A small muffled yelp escaped from his lips as he shook in pain. After the pain subsided, he stood up. He leaned on his good leg and placed a hand on the wall nearby. He could fell small tremors from the wall as he limped towards the door. 'Tsuna must be in Hyper Dying Will Mode now...' He opened the door and saw Gokudera and Bianchi attacking Tsuna who had orange fire glowing off his forehead.

The two was possessed by Mukuro, their right eyes were glowing in purple flames. Ryuuichi leaned against the door frame, laughing softly in slight disbelieved. 'I can't believe that I am actually seeing this match in person' He smiled as he observed the brunette's fight. He was skillfully dodging the two siblings' attacks and managed to make it looked like they were actually hitting him.

"That's not it" He looked towards Reborn, who was in a purple coloured button down shirt, his usual black suit nowhere to be seen. "Your attacks aren't hitting him. If he were to guard or evade, that would strain Gokudera's and Bianchi's bodies. So he's catching and absorbing all your attacks with his body in order to protect their bodies." Reborn explained. The arcobaleno had not noticed him at all, which was good. He wouldn't want his appearance disturb Tsuna's fight.

As the hitman had finished, Tsuna back handed Gokudera and had knocked him out. 'That's good. Knock their body systems out' Reborn had said that he did it intuitively though. 'Hyper Intuition... Huh..' He watched as Tsuna knocked Bianchi's body out too.

Tsuna asked Reborn to take care of the two where the hitman replied him to not be bossy but still walked towards the two anyway. Tsuna turned towards Mukuro, who hadn't really died. Ryuuichi frowned, Mukuro would use the last and only path that he hadn't use. The blue haired teen loathed the skill. The Fifth Path, the Path of Human.

It wasn't illogical for the teen to hate it. Human are, in reality, distasteful creatures after all. All the pollution, the wars, the experimenting and the psychological problems people have these days are all caused by humans. Humans are greedy creatures, that's for sure. Ryuuichi himself knew that. Even so, he himself is a human too. Mukuro and the others too. There's no doubt on that. Every human in this world are consumed by the Seven Deathly sins after all. Even if one doesn't have the sin, Greed, they are bound to have the rest.

This fact wasn't religious or anything. It's quite logical. For example, Reborn himself is one. He doesn't possess the sin Greed. What he has is Pride. 'And that's.... The same as me... Isn't it...'

Ryuuichi watched as the dark aura surrounded Mukuro. It was black and ugly, but Ryuuichi could somehow felt the loneliness along in the dark aura. Mukuro suddenly got stronger that Tsuna couldn't keep up and was blown away to the other end with one hit. Mukuro had a smug look on his face, clearly underestimating the brunette. Little did he know that he had already lost once Tsuna went into Hyper Dying Mode.

"What? His aura!" Tsuna's flame on his forehead had grown stronger, and brighter with resolve. He lit up his gloves with the flame on his forehead.

"If that was all your power, I would've been disappointed" Reborn smirked. It seemed like Tsuna finally understand that the X-glove would not be burnt from the Dying Will Flame. Though, Mukuro didn't understood that the flame isn't an aura. How could such a intelligent person be this dense is seriously weird.

The flame on Tsuna's glove managed to melt the Mukuro's trident and had it bent. This time, Mukuro was the one who could not keep up with Tsuna. He was thrown back by the brunette's punch, hands clutching his trident. He felt frustrated. "What was that. What did he do?" He scowled.

Ryuuichi frowned when Mukuro laughed. That teen seriously was planning to take over Tsuna's body and create havoc in the mafia world. Well, he can't blame him for planning it either. He did suffered and the cause of his suffering is the mafia people. Though, he wished that he could let go of everything. Hanging around the pass isn't going to help him much. (And his plan had involved in possessing every single important person in this world won't do much good)

Ryuuichi winced as his head throbbed. He had been thinking too much and his fatigue had made it worst. He closed his eyes, imagined the match between Mukuro and Tsuna with the sound of Tsuna's and Mukuro's fight aiding him. He heard Mukuro's disbelieved voice when Tsuna successfully avoided himself getting implanted on Mukuro's trident by using the flames as thrust. He also heard Reborn's voice and Tsuna's voice.

He smiled. He slowly slid down the door frame silently and sat down on the ground, heads tilted towards the match. His eyes opened right at the time Mukuro was beaten. Finally.

He heard that Reborn said that the Vongola's medical team had arrived, and managed to give Lanchia his antidote. Suddenly, the air got colder, white mists appeared and rattlings chains were heard. 'Vindice....' Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa were taken away by the ones that protects the mafia law (Vindice is a group of avengers with their bodies bandaged up. They protect the mafia law and would arrest and punish whoever dares to defy it). They couldn't help them. Those cold blooded creatures had no mercy after all. Not to mention the Mukuro and the others do have to be punished.

Even if Ryuuichi interferes, they would be capture anyway. Since Mukuro was the one who brutally whipped out the Estraneo Famiglia.

'Law is law after all...'

"Ryuuichi" Just when the teen was about to slip into slumber again, Reborn had woken him up. He briefly wondered when did the Arcobaleno noticed him, or was beside him. "A...re...?" His voice were hoarse. Tsuna gasped, before running towards the two, clearly didn't expected it. "Ryuuichi!? What-?!"

He laughed airily. "Good job, Tsunayoshi" He smiled. Medics started rushing in and two of them came towards the three of them. He could literally see Tsuna trying to suppress the pain from the side effect of the Rebuke bullet. Before he fall unconscious for the one more time, he muttered. "No matter what... Don't tell.. my.. family..."

"Ryuuichi!!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go! The last chapter for the Kokuyo Arc. This chapter is short. Really short. Didn't managed to hit 2k words before this note. Anyway, the next chapter will be something lighter before the Varia Arc begins.
> 
> I only realized that Fuuta had been captured for 10 days, rather than 5 or 4. But because of a few reason, I had the period shorter than usual. And then, I noticed the loop holes in the previous chapters but.. Oh well! [Now that I'm reminded about that, I want to cry about this orz]
> 
> Reborn had noticed Ryuuichi's presence the moment he had opened the door, but he chose to stay silent when he saw Ryuuichi didn't intended to show his presence to Tsuna and Mukuro.
> 
> I didn't really elaborate much on Mukuro and Tsuna's fight because I got uninterested and lazy halfway through. [Current me; YOU LAZY ASS GET WORKING HOW COULD YOU BE LIKE THATTT]
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc. etc. mistakes] 


	10. Recovery and Friends

_"Xxx!! Oi!!!"_

_"Oww!! Dammit that hurts!"_

_"Well, if you could just look and pay attention to what I was saying then maybe I won't even hit you!"_

_"Harsh! I wonder if you really are my friend"_

_"Of course I am, Dumbass. I forever will"_

_"...Yeah.."_

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

".... He's alright.... Sleep.."

"...-'s good...."

He heard familiar voices and rustlings, the smell of disinfectant was strong and hurt his sense of smell a little. His eyelids felt heavier than usual and his body felt sore and tired. Waiting for a few seconds, he gathered the little strength he had and opened his eyes, only to have it shut when he greeted with a blinding light. He blinked a few times before his sight came back to him. Above him was a white ceiling. '..Where..?'

He groaned when he tried to sit up to look at his surrounding better, only to have two pairs of hands hastily push him back down. Beside him was Dino and Tsuna, both of them looked worried. He furrowed his eyebrows. Realization hit him once his memories came back to him. 'Oh... Ohhhhhh!' He must have passed out in exhaustion once the fight ended. He probably is in the hospital right now.

Ryuuichi shook his head lightly when the two tried to had him lay down on the bed again, before sitting up. He didn't felt any pain at all. 'Probably the anesthetic..' Everything was quite numb, so he didn't care. "Hello" He cringed a little at his voice. It was so rough and hoarse that it's a miracle that it didn't hurt at all.

"Here, water" Dino passed him a glass of water. He thanked the blonde and drank it all in one go. He looked at his surrounding, and saw Gokudera, Yamamoto and Hibari. Gokudera and Yamamoto, as usual was bickering on one side of the room while Hibari slept on the chair on the other side. Well, was sleeping. He probably had woke up when Ryuuichi opened his eyes.

"How's everyone? Did any of you called my family? Why is Dino here?"

Reborn suddenly popped out of nowhere and jumped onto his bed. He was in his usual black suit and fedora on his head. "What a strange thing to say after waking up" He was amused at the question. Normally people won't ask those kind of question after waking up in a hospital. He smirked when Ryuuichi rolled his eyes.

"Everyone's fine. Shamal-san had treated everyone, including you" Tsuna answered as he and Dino sat on plastic chairs beside his bed. "Are you alright Ryuuichi!?" Gokudera shouted. Ryuuichi chuckled internally when Gokudera changed into a delighted puppy after he said that he was alright. "We didn't call your parents nor Yuuichi as you had told us to, and Dino-san was had offered to pay for your hospital fee when he heard that you were hospitalized"

Ryuuichi feelings jumbled up. He felt a little scandalized when he heard Shamal was the one who treated him, probably forced by Reborn. Probably. He felt relieved when he heard that his family didn't know about his condition and confused that Dino paid for his fee, not that he's complaining. At least he didn't have to fork it out and answer his parents about the money. "Why?" He asked the Cavallone boss.

"W-well....." He could see the gears working when Dino paused for quite a while. He sighed "Nevermind. Anyway, how long was I out?" (Much to the blonde's dismay. He sputtered a few more moments before silencing himself when Reborn gave him the look for being noisy)

"A day and a half" Reborn said. "Shamal said that it's because of exhaustion. He had you admitted here to be checked on if you have any broken bones" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow. The fact that Shamal actually helped him didn't really sit well. "I somehow really wanted to rub it on Shamal-san later for helping." He didn't mentioned about Shamal-san womanizer stuff because basically everyone else knew and nodded slowly. "Hibari?"

He saw the said prefect lifted up his head and deadpanned at him. "What?"

"You alright? I mean, shouldn't you be the one hospitalized rather than me?" He didn't really meant to offend Hibari. It's just that Hibari's injuries were probably worst than his. Mukuro did mentioned that he had broken a few of his bones. He face palmed internally when Hibari glared at him. (Which read as; Seriously? Who do you think I am?)

"A-ah... Hibari-san had forced his way out from being hospitalized yesterday... And he had been here since then" He shouldn't be surprised. Of course that prefect would find a way from getting tied down. He sighed. Really, he shouldn't have asked. "Then when can I be discharged?"

"Probably today, seeing that you didn't have any major injuries other than the sprained ankle and the bruise all over you body" Dino mentioned. He asked if the teen wanted to discharge as soon as possible, before walking out of the room to get him out after Ryuuichi said he wanted to get out. "Speaking of which, how did you get beaten up when you learnt self defense before? And promptly got a dislocated shoulder and a sprain."

Ryuuichi gave Reborn a look. "You researched on me?" Well, it was strange to see him like that when he could actually escape from Hibari's hits unharmed. ".. Mukuro had a girl to beat me up when I try to escape. Didn't feel like hitting a girl. And for your information, I got the sprain while trying to run away from Chikusa. Don't remind me of it, thank you very much" This time, everyone else gave him the look that made him roll his eyes.

"Oh shut it" (And Dino who came back had a confused look when everyone in the room stared at Ryuuichi. "What?" Que glare from the dark brown haired teen.)

\----------------------------- **A Month Later** \--------------------------------------

Hot. If there was one thing that was on Ryuuichi's mind, it was hot. Why? Because the damn sun just won't hide between the clouds. The fact that he was wearing a long sleeve and long trousers didn't help either. (And he stood out like a sore thumb for wearing those in the middle of the summer and at the beach) The annoying exclamation of excitement from tourist and locals was starting to get on his nerves. The heat was getting to him that his patience and temper restrain was getting slimmer.

He started wondering why did he even came here in the first place. 'Ahh.. Right.. Reborn...' That infant literally forced him here. He could have just said no, but Yuuichi just had to side him Reborn and brought out the big guns when he refused for the last time. Damn the puppy eyes. If not for that, he wouldn't even be standing on this mountains of sands. That's right. They were currently at the beach. And because of the sand, he had forgone his shoes and wore slippers instead.

He stood under the shade to avoid getting the sunlight on him. Unlike the others, who were already half naked and running around here and there and perhaps trying to get tanned, he had no interest in it. Getting half naked is something that he would not do, especially in the public. (He still couldn't shake off the reserved habits he had from his pass life as a girl) And getting tanned? He rather not get sunburned. He experienced it once and it hurt like hell. (That explained why he was so pale in the first place)

He quickly walked up to Yamamoto when he stuck the huge umbrella into the sand and sighed. "Eh? Our part-time job is being lifeguards?" 'Oh yeah....' He remembered that the rest had to make money to pay for the damage they have made when they were at the public pool. Luckily he didn't follow them when they invited him that day.

"Ryuuichi?" Yuuichi called out. He walked towards him, half naked like the others and had his eyebrows furrowed. "Why haven't you changed?"

"You know why" Ryuuichi let out an exaggerated sigh as his twin stood next to him. Seriously, he had drilled why he didn't into Yuuichi's brain before, but he just had to forget about it don't he? Yuuichi rolled his eyes. "Yes yes, but you'll get heat stroke later. So change." He pushed a set of clothing into Ryuuichi's hands. "If you don't, I'll literally strip you right here, right now." Ok that option was worse.

The older twin clicked his tongue before walking off to the changing room, bringing his bag with him. Once he changed, he realized that he was wearing a light blue short sleeves T-shirt and a knee length shorts. He snorted. At least his twin didn't forced him into shirt with shorter sleeves than this and thigh-length shorts.

Once he was out of the changing room and with Tsuna and the others, Yuuichi had gone who knows where with Lambo and I-Pin. It was quite surprising that his brother weren't crept out when he met them, or when he met Reborn who was an adult in infant form. 'The idiots should appear... Now'

"You're just making trouble when you throw away garbage. That only creates more work for us"

Ryuuichi had his dead eyes on when he saw a group of guys in speedos, threatening a kid. He felt a vein popped. He could see Yamamoto and Gokudera's anger as they stood in front of the shaken Tsuna. Ryohei, well, let's just say that he's too oblivious as he cheerily introduced his seniors to them.

"Yo!" 'Yo, my ass.. Damned piece of shit' Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes. Ryohei's senior were all former Namimori Middle's Boxing Club members. Ryuuichi ignored those people and walked towards the fallen kid and helped him. And then, they decided to hit on the Kyoko and Haru. His vein popped once more. Yamamoto and Gokudera retorted angrily when they decided to push all the work to them.

"Oi...." He said, back facing them as a dark aura seeped out. He stood up from his previous crouching position and turned towards them. He stared down at them(Even when they were taller than him), one eye shadowed while the other glared at them. "Don't push your luck" He grabbed both Kyoko and Haru and pulled them towards him. He had a sense of overprotective-ness over the girls he had regarded as friends. (Of course, all because of his pass life)

The idiots suppressed a shudder and acted tough. They didn't know nor recognize Ryuuichi even though they were ex-students from Namimori Middle, which made Ryuuichi snort at their attempt to act tough. They mocked them and also mocked Tsuna's name. Ryohei, well, was still useless and dense. Too dense. Well, Ryuuichi didn't mind, they would be going down after all.

They decided to fight with sports. A 3-on-3 swimming competition. "The losers becomes the winners' slave" Ryuuichi snorted. "Don't regret your words, dumbasses"

"We accept that challenge!" Reborn and him exchanged a smirk, the rest was left with no protest but to accept it. Tsuna was a little worried, but a little relieved. Because he thought that he won't have to participate but, oh how wrong was he. "Don't look so relaxed, Tsuna. I won't be participating. You'll be the one who will participate" He laughed internally at the bewildered face of the brunette's. "I couldn't swim after all"

It's quite true, he could swim a little, but he would have to stop quite often because he doesn't know how to change his breathe. Not to mention that he had never swim in the ocean before, so he would have to pass. They would have to swim from where they were, around the little island and to where they were again. Those who won majority of the rounds would win.

First round was Yamamoto. Ryuuichi knew that he would be ambushed but he could take care of it, so he wasn't that worried. As expected, Yamamoto didn't came back. The one competing against said that he had a cramp. What a load of bullshit.

The next one was Gokudera, who again, like Yamamoto didn't came back. Once it was Tsuna's turn and when he was already in the water, Gokudera and Yamamoto appeared with a heap of bodies, presumably the 'juniors' of the three idiots. The speechless look on the two of the idiots were really amusing that Ryuuichi had laughed out loud as the bomber and the baseball star proceed to 'take care' of them.

As for Tsuna, he had 'Reborn' once again, and had saved a small girl with a float that drifted far away from shore. He literally kicked the one whom he was competing against out of the way when he wanted to snatch the fame for saving the girl.

Well, the first part ended well.

\----------------------------------------------------

The sun was beginning to set as Ryuuichi and Yuuichi walked around. Stalls of all kind were everywhere and the joyful atmosphere was very warm. Ryuuichi had a loopsided smile on, at least it was calmer than the morning. He chuckled when Yuuichi was happily looking around, eyes sparkling.

Upon a stall, they bumped into Tsuna who was walking around with Lambo and I-Pin. "Ah" Two more voices had joined theirs'. It was Gokudera's and Yamamoto. They were selling Chocolate Coated Banana as they bickered. Seriously, they were like old married couple. Ryuuichi voiced out to them which led to Gokudera's sputtering and protest while Yamamoto simply just laughed sheepishly.

"Well, give me two, please" He handed them the money and grabbed two of it. He handed Yuuichi his, when Hibari and his committee member appeared. They were collecting debts from the stall next to their's. Ryuuichi sweated at their choice of weapons to threaten people. "Shit." Hibari had turned to him, and his blood thirsty smirk was on his face. He took out his tonfa and walked intimidatingly towards him. "Hey, Small Animal"

Ryuuichi quickly finished his treat and threw away the stick. "Yo Hibari, and see you guys later!!" He ran away, nodded as he saw the girls. Hibari was hot on his tail. He chased after the dark brown haired teen to the shrine. He literally tackled him down to the grass and rolled until Ryuuichi was on his back, and Hibari above him. His tonfa was pressed against his throat but it didn't hurt.

"Umm... Senpai..?" The prefect didn't said anything, and just simply stared into his eyes. There was something in that grey eyes that he couldn't read. After a few minutes, Hibari stood up and left. Ryuuichi pushed himself up and was supported by his elbow as he watched the older teen walk down the stairs, puzzled at his action. 'What the heck was all that about...'

Ryuuichi plopped back down on the grass, not minding if there's any dirt. He didn't even cared to go after the teen, seeing that he and of course, the others would be there once sun's down to watch the firework. He took out his phone and texted Yuuichi his location, and told him to come later along with Tsuna.

He played on his phone for almost 2 hours and almost falling asleep in the process of waiting for them, he noticed that the idiots from the beach had arrived. Probably one of their lackeys had already went to steal their money. He scoffed at them and paid no heed as they didn't noticed him either.

After a while, Tsuna and the others had arrived. He propped himself on his elbow again, and watched the scene unfolded. People started surrounding Tsuna when Ryuuichi decided to help. Perhaps he could have some fun while at it. "Tsunayoshi~ Let me join, will you?" He walked up towards the brunette and placed a hand on his shoulder, smirking.

"Cannot allow evil" "Lambo-san will beat the bad guys, too" The kids jumped in front of them. Suddenly, a guy from their back was beaten down. Hibari appeared. "I thought I found a delicious little flock, and it turned out to be the big catch of thieves I've been after" "Welcome back, Senpai" Ryuuichi was answered with a 'hn'. The damned prefect actually wanted to take the money after all.

I-Pin's pinzu count down had started. She had a crush on Hibari after all. She literally stuck onto Lambo, who frantically ran away before she exploded with him.

The ones surrounding them went onto their attack stance, whilst Reborn in Yukata had stood on the shrine's entrance. Leon changed into a gun on his hand before he shot Tsuna, who went into Dying Will Mode. Gokudera and Yamamoto seemed to have popped out somewhere around the time they were talking.

Ryuuichi laughed. This would be a really great work out.

\-------------------------------------------------------

BOOM!!!

The fireworks let off as they all sat down on the grass Ryuuichi had previously laid on. They had won against those junkies. Hibari had gotten his money, but he didn't take Tsuna's and the others' hard work for I-Pin's sake. Ryuuichi sure will rub the fact in the prefect's face when he sees him the next time. Yuuichi, Fuuta, Kyoko and Haru had arrived just after they finished.

Yuuichi was surprised when he saw piles of bodies beside the shrine, most either groaning or already unconscious. Ryuuichi had filled it in with him and made him pouted. Seriously, his older teen could have called him. He wanted to go up against those idiots. Their face had Yuuichi felt disgusted and he wanted to land a punch or two on them.

(Ryuuichi sweated. He somewhat pitied those guys. He had mentioned it in the previous chapters. Yuuichi punches is a real deal. He himself did not want to deal with it)

They all relaxed just in time and had scattered across the grass just in time for the firework show. All content and happy. For once, Ryuuichi felt genuinely content. He never had this kind of relaxed feeling after hanging out with his friends in his pass life. Usually he would felt tired, rather than happy. (Because he, she was probably the most matured one among her group, so she had to take care of them) But with this group of friends, he noticed that he didn't have to be matured for once. He could go wild for all he care, and none of them would say anything. Unknowingly, they have all crawled themselves into his heart, and had taken the position of being his best friends.

He smiled, briefly wondered when did they became one of the people he considered important and he cared. He broken his thought at the sound of fireworks going off and smiled. He was glad that he had chosen this path. Satisfied of his decision for once.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next would be the first chapter of the Third Arc. Varia Arc would be longer than Kokuyo Arc. Will try to at least make it longer. TRY. NO CONFIRMATION THERE.
> 
> Have I mentioned it before that Ryuuichi had learnt self defense with Yuuichi in the past? Yeah, he did.
> 
> I generally didn't know what to write for this chapter because of some reason and among the Daily Life episodes in between the Kokuyo arc and the Varia arc, the episode when they went to the beach and the summer festival was my favourite one.
> 
> Ryuuichi only had his demon reputation in Namimori and his old school, which is why those idiots who graduated before Ryuuichi goes to Namimori didn't know. Well, those who know his reputation wouldn't dare to mock him or irritate him.
> 
> I didn't mention about this but he had this sickly pale skin that was once burned a little before. He looked like a glowing human until he was 9 when he had accidentally stayed under the sun for too long. Which led to his sun burn that he had said. And for those who never experience it (I doubt that no one never experience sun burn before), it hurt like a shit. And it lasts for a few days, or weeks too. Had it once, definitely didn't wanna taste it again.
> 
> In Ryuuichi's pass life, he had a group of close friends that he trust and cared. But he was the sanest and most mature one among them so he had to go through an extend to worry about them when they go out. That's why. He still regards them as one of the important person in his life though.
> 
> The conversation on the beginning of the chapter was a memory of Ryuuichi's pass life.
> 
> Ryuuichi generally calls Hibari by "Hibari" or "Senpai". The former the most.
> 
> Fun fact = Ryuuichi didn't like sunny days or hot weathers. Cloudy but bright is fine but not full blown sunny. He would literally melt.
> 
> I'm cringing so hard hel p
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	11. Superbi Squalo, Vongola Rings and Varia

"Ryuu, grab those" The twins were shopping for groceries and were skipping school. There weren't much to do at school because it was Review day after all. Not to mention that their parents are coming home from work after three months. Deciding that they should give a surprise for their parents, they went out and bought ingredients for their feast and gifts for them.

Ryuuichi and Yuuichi was in their casuals and the older twin was carrying his usual backpack. They had been shopping for quite a while now. "You sure you could finish cooking by the time they come back, Yuu? That's a lot..." Ryuuichi peered into their trolley, full with vegetables, fruits, meat and such.

"Barely, I suppose. Well, if you help me it would be much faster" Yuuichi nonchalantly stated.

"I can't cook" Ryuuichi deadpanned. He remembered the last time he tried to cook, he almost killed himself because of not knowing what to do. "Chopping this and that should be fine, don't you think?" He scoffed. Well, maybe he could help with that part. They bought a few more this and that before they paid for everything.

Once finished, they went to a few gift shops to buy presents. Upon purchasing what the needed, they decided to linger around the shopping district before going home. (And Ryuuichi had to carry a bag full of stuff behind him. At least he don't have to hold onto it for who knows how long) "Let's go to the arcade" Yuuichi said, pointing towards the arcade with his eyes shining.

In the arcade they go. Yuuichi went to buy the tokens while Ryuuichi looked around. It has been a while since he last being into an arcade. "Die!!" 'That voice....' Ryuuichi had his bored eyes on and turned towards the direction of the shout. He sighed when he saw Gokudera, Yamamoto and Fuuta.

He walked up towards them, before hugging Gokudera from the back, shocking the hell out of him. "Yato. You're being too loud" He blew onto the bomber's ear before jumping back. "R-r-ryuuichi!!!!" He laughed when Gokudera was so red that even the back of his neck was red.

"Yo~"

"Oh Ryuu!" "Ryuu-nii!!" Yamamoto and Fuuta greeted him. Fuuta ran up to him and gave him a tight hug. He smiled at the kid and patted on his head. "Yuu. Wanna have a match on this?" He pointed at the monster shooting machine that the three was playing as Yuuichi walked towards them.

So the twins ended on a full blown match on that machine. Ryuuichi was cringing the whole time at the disgusting looking creatures that popped out every two seconds. "Holy" Bang! "Shit" Bang bang! "Those things are creepy" Bang bang bang bang!

"Gotta agree" Yuuichi huffed and placed the toy gun back. Ryuuichi had won against him by a few points, promptly taking the highest score spot. He never knew that his older twin was so good at shooting. Then again, he is a member of the Archery Club. After that, the two ended up tagging along with the others seeing that they didn't have much thing to do. They were in a Music CD shop.

"Hahi! You're a fan of the XXXX group too, Ryuuichi-san!" Ryuuichi swore he saw stars in Haru's eyes as they talked about the music and such of that certain group.

And so, from one to another, they took pictures on the picture booth (Ryuuichi was forced to on the other hand). After a while, they decided to rest. They stopped by a cafe and sat in a few groups of tables because of the large amount of people they have. "Yuu. What do you want?" "Orange Juice" The older twin went to the vending machine and bought two bottles of beverage, accidentally eavesdropped on Tsuna and Kyoko's conversation.

"What is that sound?" He looked towards the direction of the explosion that just happened. 'Oh yeah. Today's Squalo... Crap' Suddenly, a male fall from the sky and onto Tsuna. The teen had blue Dying Will flames coming out of his forehead. He used the older Japanese language that even Ryuuichi didn't really get it.

"Juudaime!" The rest called out for the brunette, worried. Reborn wondered why was the fallen teen here but he didn't managed to ask before a loud shout took their attention. "VOIII!!!!!!!!" Ryuuichi sighed inwardly at that familiar shout. 'The shark's here...'

"What's this? A bunch of outsiders are starting to make a crowd. Any piece of trash that gets in my way will be cut!" The damn long haired guy just had to slash his sword around and make a hurricane-like wind. Dust flew everywhere. "Yuuichi! Get the kids and the girls to somewhere save!!"

"What-!?" His twin protested. He wasn't going to leave his brother here in this kind of dangerous situation. Though, a stern look from Ryuuichi had him shut up. The same look when he insisted on going to Namimori, and the same look he gave him when he was worried about him. Reborn had said the same thing to the girls too, so he nodded. He quickly helped the girls and the children, and evacuated from that place immediately.

"I'm sorry, Sawada-dono. I was followed" The teen said. Tsuna didn't recognize, nor knew that teen. He was shocked when he saw the Dying Will flame from the other's forehead. He was confused. The teen had said that he had brought him into a dangerous situation even though they had just met. 'What?' "U-umm who are you?" The teen did not answer but pulled him to hide before the dusts settled, but they were stopped when an explosion when off in front of them.

"VOII!! Let's quit playing chase" The teen went into his fighting stance, but was slightly thrown off when the man demanded who was the brunette. 'He doesn't recognize Sawada-dono? Curses! I should have just continued onwards' The man brought up his sword, and slash it down as he quickly went in front of Tsuna and blocked him from the attack while he himself was thrown off.

Ryuuichi remained by the side with Reborn, watching the scene unfold. The man demanded to know the relationship of Tsuna and that teen when dynamites suddenly started raining down. He quickly jumped away, avoiding them. "Take a look at what happens when you raise a hand against him. You won't be just walking away" "Well, it's something like that. We'll take you on!"

Gokudera and Yamamoto had their weapons out. Dynamites in Gokudera's hand while a katana in Yamamoto's. Their eyes were narrowed. Ryuuichi was a bit worried. The two doesn't stand a chance against that man whilst in their current combat skill. 'Dino should be here soon...'

The three of them fought despite the other teen's warning but as Ryuuichi had expected, Yamamoto and Gokudera were taken down in matters of seconds. Ryuuichi sighed and shook his head. "Voiii!! I was wondering since just now but who are you!!" The man pointed his sword at Ryuuichi direction. 'Oh dear...' "No one important in particular" He held his hands up nonchalantly. "Don't you kid with me!" He quickly jumped away to avoid an incoming swing of the sword but he wasn't fast enough to avoid the next one. Fortunately, the teen with blue flames blocked the attack for him.

The two fought like there's no tomorrow in front of Tsuna and Ryuuichi. Tsuna was worried and afraid when suddenly, his mittens fall onto his face. "These gloves!" Reborn had somehow became a poet while wearing a weird looking costume. A plant. 'Seriously, Reborn?'

Ryuuichi sighed as the brunette and the hitman bickered. Suddenly, the teen who was fighting with the man shouted in pain. He fell onto the ground and his Dying Will Flames had extinguished. He looked towards the fallen three, eyebrows furrowed. He ignored Tsuna's shout of 'Reborn!!' as he fought against the man this time. Ryuuichi briefly wondered when will Dino arrive. He chuckled lightly when Tsuna literally shouted the word long-hair. It was quite hilarious in a serious situation.

He laughed out loud when Tsuna was bounced away before he ran back towards the man and got bounced away again. After that, his Dying Will Mode ended, and he himself ran away. The man's explosive were hots on his tails if not for the other teen's weapon that hit all of it and created a smoke screen. Once the smoke dispersed, they disappeared.

"VOIII!!"

Realization dawned Ryuuichi. 'Did they just left me here?' He groaned and facepalmed. How is he going to deal with the loud mouth without saying anything nor being slashed. "You!!" He quickly jumped away again when he was indeed about to be slashed. "Opps! Not gonna answer you anything!!" He ran towards the direction where Tsuna possibly will be. "Tsunayoshi!" He immediately hid behind the brunette's back. He and Basil was talking about the rings until explosions when off again. "Seriously, explosives are too boring now!!" He shouted.

"You haven't changed, Superbi Squalo" Ryuuichi rolled his eyes at the clinched entrance of Dino's. The Cavallone boss along with his subordinates appeared, and Dino was holding his whip. "Getting serious with children... Aren't you embarrassed?" Ryuuichi had the urge to hit the blonde. 'Who are you calling a child?' Well, he was mentally older than Dino anyway but he decided to shut it. He wouldn't want to blew his cover, would he?

'Bucking Bronco Dino' Squalo narrowed his eyes. 'So this kid has connections with the Cavallone' Dino was in the boss mode, as he told the man to stop whatever he was doing. Squalo scoffed. If they think that he would just go back obediently, they were dead wrong. He immediately grabbed Tsuna by his head and held him up. Dino was to help the brunette but Squalo's explosive stopped him. Smokes surrounded them again, before it disperse.

Ryuuichi sighed for the nth times. Seriously, he had been sighing for who-knows how many time already. Squalo had taken away the rings. Ryuuichi simply sat on the ground and looked bored whilst the other, especially Basil and Tsuna, panicked. "See ya!" And the loud mouth disappeared. " _A Dopo~ Sharky_ " Ryuuichi muttered in italian. The others didn't hear him but Reborn did.

Reborn was puzzled. Not only did Ryuuichi spoke in Italian, but he had replied 'See you later'. He narrowed his eyes, wondering if the teen was with Squalo. Ryuuichi who noticed Reborn's stare, shook his head. "Nope. This is the first time I met Squalo and no, I'm not on their side" He said quietly.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

"Umm.. Who is he?" Tsuna asked. They were in the hospital, where Basil was treated. Ryuuichi sat by the chairs on the other side of the room as the rest talked. Briefly, he wondered if the brunette had asked the wrong question. Dino explained that he wasn't a member of the Vongola, but is an ally, much to Tsuna's confusion. He and Reborn said about the Half Vongola Rings and the history of the rings. "Well, the thing is... I have them right here" Dino held up the identical box that Squalo had took away earlier.

"These are real" He also said that a certain individual had asked him to pass those rings to Tsuna, much to the brunette's chagrin. Tsuna stopped Dino from mentioning about him being Vongola Tenth before promptly running away, saying that he needed to study his reveals.

At the same time he ran out, Yuuichi appeared. "Ryuuichi!" The younger twin was relieved when he saw his brother sitting on the chair, unharmed. He took a deep breathe and stomped up to his brother with his eyes narrowed. "U-umm.. Yuu, I ca-" A fist collided onto his forehead. "Seriously! What were you thinking?! Do you know how worried I was!?! Not to mention when you text me that you're in hospital, I thought you-..!" Ryuuichi rubbed his forehead. Fortunately his brother didn't used his full strength. Or else, he doubt he would go home uninjured.

He smiled fondly at his brother, honestly, why is he brother so adorable? "Sorry, Yuu." He hugged Yuuichi and patted him on the head.

Dino and Reborn on the other hand was shocked, well, Dino was. Reborn was simply amused at the scene. The Cavallone boss had his mouth agape, not knowing what to say or do. Ryuuichi noticed his stare and smiled at him. He let go of his brother, and had him turned towards the blonde.

Yuuichi finally noticed the other occupants in the room and blushed a little. Ryuuichi chuckled. "Yuu, this is Dino. He's Tsunayoshi's self proclaimed brother, and an ex-student of Reborn's" Dino's eyes widen. "Dino, this is Shiroki Yuuichi. My younger twin" He stuttered a greeting whilst the younger one bowed. Ryuuichi gave him a look before turning back to his brother. "Yuu, could you wait outside for me? I need to say something to them first" His brother obediently went out.

"U-umm" Ryuuichi smiled a little. "He doesn't know anything about the mafia or whatever. So please don't mention about it until I tell him" He bowed at two before going out of the room, leaving Reborn and Dino together.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Sakura and Kei was very happy. They had came back to Namimori after three months of working outstation and they were excited to see their sons. When they opened the door and shouted a 'I'm home', two familiar voices welcomed theirs before they were promptly tackled by a teen with short dark brown hair. "We missed you~!!" Yuuichi squeezed them both into a tight hug, making them a little out of breathe. But they were happy nonetheless.

"Yuu, you'll suffocate Mother and Father" Ryuuichi appeared, he leaned against the wall of the hallway and had his arms crossed. He had a smile plastered. He walked forward to the three and gave them a brief, but tight embrace and helped them with the luggage. "I'll take these. Go have dinner first"

Yuuichi dragged them into the dining room, and was taken away. There were so much food on the table that they themselves weren't sure if they could finished it all. (Ryuuichi had a deja vu when he saw the amount himself)"Did you cooked all this, Yuuichi?" Kei asked.

"Yep!!" He and Sakura were so blessed to have their two sons that made them wondered what did they do to deserve such wonderful children. They thanked the youngest. "Now now, stop staring. The food is getting cold." Ryuuichi appeared, a bottle of wine in hand that surprised them to no end.

"What-" Ryuuichi chuckled. "Don't worry, Yuuichi and I won't drink this. This-" He thrust it onto Kei's hand "-Is for you two" He smiled.

"Alright! Sit down!"

Really, what did they do to deserve Ryuuichi and Yuuichi.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Almost a week had pass, since the incident with Squalo. Tsuna and his selected guardians were training for the incoming battle with Varia, Vongola's Independent Assassination Squad. Tsuna with Basil and Reborn, Ryohei with Collonello (Ryuuichi's meeting with the Rain Arcobaleno was comical enough that he didn't want to mention about it), Yamamoto with his Father, Tsuyoshi, Gokudera with Shamal and Hibari with Dino.

Ryuuichi himself were doing training of his own. Who knows what would happen. And if he remembered correctly, Varia would send people to kill whoever has relation with Tsuna. If that was the case, he would have to avoid Yuuichi getting involved at all cost. Though, his training was slightly different.

He was having a rest and was watching over everyone's training. He just passed by Gokudera's training, and didn't disturbed him. Dino and Hibari's was deadly enough so he didn't even took a peek of it. (Well, he knew how it goes already) Yamamoto's when he visited Tsuyoshi at TakeSushi. Ryohei's, well, he and Collonello was basically lying down in the middle of nowhere. He went to where Tsuna, Basil and Reborn were.

Just as he stepped onto the grounds they were training, he felt a presence behind him. He could suppress the shiver and whipped his head around. He saw a familiar old man while holding a pick axe. Sawada Iemitsu. He nodded at the man and was returned with a smile and a nod before Iemitsu walked away silently.

He turned back around and towards the rest. Tsuna was training for the third phase's ground work. Reborn said something about training his mental strength. He swore he saw a mischievous glint in those black orbs of the hitman's when he greeted them. "Ryuuichi-dono! Good evening" "R-ryuuichi!! Ahh!" Tsuna shook a little, but fortunately didn't fall on the pile of mines around him.

"Ryuuichi, good timing. How about joining Tsuna?" "I don't-" His protest fell into dead ears as he was forced to join Tsuna. He sweated as he stood on one foot on a small rock. Unlike Tsuna, he didn't shook too hard, and he was calmer. "As expected of someone with high mental strength" He groaned. Slightly regretting why he didn't run away.

After almost an hour, they finally went down the cliff and the sun was setting. Ryuuichi had his black mountain bicycle with him. "I'll see you guys in a few more moments" He rode it and cycled away in a fast pace, not giving them a chance to explain. He headed towards the direction where Fuuta, Lambo and I-Pin should be. 'Damn.... Should have been with those kids instead of... Nevermind..'

He slowed down on a junction before speeding up again, trying to find the kids. The locations were never really mentioned in the anime nor manga, he only knew that it was somewhere in Namimori. 'I need to find them before....' He turned a few more junctions, and cycled across a bridge. He fasten his pace when he heard the familiar voice shouting for help and stopped when he saw them. Tsuna had arrived a few seconds earlier and Ryohei had punched a man in black in the face.

He let out a sigh of relieve when he saw the kids were save. Gokudera and Yamamoto soon make their appearance and had taken out the rest of the enemies. He slumped on his bicycle, legs so tired that he swore that he would have muscle pain for a day or two after cycling for so long and none stop. The fact that he had stood on a small rock for an hour didn't help either.

At least the kids were save. Then again, he wondered why he had to panic when he already knew that the others would help them. He facepalmed. 'Idiot..' He sat on his bicycle as he watched them conversated. And then, Leviathan, appeared. (Ryuuichi cringed at the sight of the man. 'He's uglier than I thought') Just as the man wanted to attack them, the whole Varia member appeared. Ryuuichi was getting bored of all those clinched appearances.

"Out of the way" Xanxus walked forward. He glared at Tsuna as the brunette fell onto the ground back first. "Sawada Tsunayoshi" His hand clenched as a orange glow appeared. Ryuuichi unconsciously whistled at the sight, making them turned towards him. 'Crap...'

A pick axe suddenly stabbed into the ground in front of Xanxus, successfully stopping the man from firing anyone with the flame on his hand. "Hold on, Xanxus. That's enough. I'll take charge from here" Ryuuichi let out a breathe that he didn't realize that he was holding. He hadn't thought that Xanxus was more intimidating in real life.

Tsuna was utterly confused at his father's appearance. 'Oh right, Tsuna didn't know about Iemitsu's job..'

"Xanxus, are you subordinates going to point their swords at the external adviser?" The tone in Iemitsu's voice was very professional like, a total opposite of what he uses when he was at home and with Tsuna and Nana. Ryuuichi ignored whatever they were saying and pinned his eyes on the largest member of Varia. He narrowed his eyes when he saw electric boards and components through the supposedly eyes of the member. "..."

"Vongola successor candidate, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Also a candidate, Xanxus." Only then did Ryuuichi pay attention and took his eyes off the member. "The Vongola Rings that you both require to become the true successor. To decide who has the right to these, we will begin the decisive battle between Tsuna's Family and Varia! A one-on-one battle between those who hold the same type of ring!"

And Cervello appeared. The judges of the match and the organization that serve directly under Ninth. Ryuuichi could never understand why their organization had so many look-a-likes. His brain shut down for a moment when they were talking and explaining and arguing this and that, and only work again when the Varia finally walked away.

'Tomorrow huh..'

"Oi Tsuna." He whispered to the teen. He smiled when the brunette jumped a little. "Relax. I'll be supporting you guys too. Though, I won't be presence tomorrow night." He chuckled at the puzzled face. "One small thing." He turned around with his bicycle, ready to ride off.

"Tomorrow, two sun shall rise.   
Though, there won't be two.  
One shall rise as planned,  
Whilst one shall fall."

He cycled off before any of them could say anything. A knowing smirk plastered on his face. 'And the Sun that rises will shine brighter than any other you will meet'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter of the Varia Arc!! I skipped all the episodes of their training because I was really tired of rewriting it down. Seriously, I'm tired of having to write whatever that happens. If anyone couldn't understand or catch up, watch episode 38 to 41. Don't remember which one.
> 
> I didn't really explained much about Ryuuichi and Yuuichi's appearances, did I? I mean, I did mentioned that Ryuuichi would have long hair while Yuuichi would have short one. But... Well, it's something like the one in the picture except that Ryuuichi's hair is shorter that the one in the picture and both of them have dark brown hair rather than black or dark grey.
> 
> Sakura and Kei's appearance would be all up to you guys because they wouldn't really appear much anyway. The two would only appear once a while because of work. They would always be outstation for about two to four months before coming back for a week or two. Depending.
> 
> What their job was will be mentioned in later chapters, though it would take a while before it get there. I mean it would take a long time.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	12. Sun and Lightning

The first thing Yuuichi woke up to was the face of Ryuuichi, who was sleeping soundly but slightly frowning. He had a vice grip on Yuuichi as he pulled him nearer. Yuuichi sighed inwardly. It has been a while since Ryuuichi last sneaked into his room for the night. He peered over the digital clock by the night stand beside his bed. '6.29..'

He leaned back into the warm body of his brother, stroking his head. It would be a long day for Ryuuichi, seeing that he had sneaked into his room, probably somewhere in the middle of the night. The last time he had done that, he had a bad day and his temper was thinner than usual. A lot more thinner. It was the time of the month where he would be like this. At least once a or two months, his brother would be out than usual. He would be more silent that he already was, would preferred not to speak at all. If you annoy him even a little, he would snap at you.

Yuuichi wondered if something had triggered this peculiar behavior of his brother's. 'Oh right, today..' Yuuichi smiled a little. His brother was nervous. Ryuuichi always had this bad habit of not telling anyone what he feel and would bottle everything up, so whenever there's something going on that made him nervous or unsettled, he would become like this.

His train of thoughts were broken when a groan escaped the older twin's lips as he snuggled closer to him. Yuuichi chuckled at the out of character brother of his. "Ryuu.." He called, trying to wake him up. "It's almost 6.45. You need to be at school by 7, right?" Ryuuichi groaned louder, still not letting go of Yuuichi but his grip had slackened. A silent 'One minute'.

And exactly after a minute, he had fully let go, and had crawled up. His gaze were hazy from sleep as he looked at the clock for quite a while.

Yuuichi chuckled again. He got of the bed and went to Ryuuichi's room. He took his brother's uniform and brought it back to his room. He was greeted by the sight of his brother faceplanting the pillows, body stretching. Really, he looked like a cat more. He place his uniform on the bed, before heading to the bathroom to wash up first. His brother would take a few more moment before he could finally fully awaken.

True to what he had expected, Ryuuichi was already awaken as he sat on his bed and stared into nowhere, mouth tugged downwards and eyebrows furrowed. He stared at Yuuichi when he walked into the room, making Yuuichi roll his eyes. The younger one grabbed his brother and dragged him to the bathroom along with his uniform. "Wash up and change. I'll tie your hair later"

Seriously, on these kind of day, his brother would turn into a muted robot.

\--------------------------------------------------------

"Good morning, Mom. Dad." Sakura and Kei greeted back. Kei was sitting on his usual seat and reading the newspaper while Sakura was cooking her sons' lunch box. They raised an eyebrow when they didn't heard their oldest son's voice. They looked towards the doorway to the dining room and saw Ryuuichi's solemn look and realization hit them. They smiled softly but said nothing. Their oldest son need actions rather than words on these days after all.

\---------------------------------------------------------

"You have everything, right?" Yuuichi asked, his brother nodded but still haven't said anything except greeting the teachers. He sighed. He cupped Ryuuichi's cheeks and had their eyes met. "Everything will be fine, ok? Trust me. You will do great" He smiled when his brother's eyes shone a little.

He hugged his brother before letting go. "Break a leg" He bowed at Ryuuichi's club mates before walking off, only to be held back by Ryuuichi.

"Yuuichi. Thanks" He smiled brightly. "Anytime, Ryuu."

\--------------------------------------------------------

The day went according to how it always have, except the absent of his brother's presence and people asking about him here and there. Though, his brother's friends had been finding him for some reason. First, it was Hibari. During the first period, the prefect had literally barged into their classroom, surprising the living shit out of everyone. He had asked about Ryuuichi's whereabouts and when he knew that he was absent, he simply shut the door and walked out without another word.

Next, was during a free period when Gokudera skidded into the classroom. He had shouted for Ryuuichi until Yuuichi told him that the teen was absent. The bomber clicked his tongue and scowled before stomping out of the classroom too. A few more later was the seniors of the Archery club, saying something about needing Ryuuichi's opinion on something that Yuuichi didn't understand.

He sighed. Ryuuichi suddenly had became so popular that everyone needed him every second. Then again, his brother was always popular.

At least he could have some peace during lunch break. He had forgone on eating with his friends(Basketball teammates) and had went a secluded spot by the court yard of the school. He sometimes wondered how the hell did his brother put up with that rowdy bunch of people. He swore he could always find them shouting at each other, well more like Gokudera shouting and Ryohei too if he was presence.

"Ryuuic- Ah. Yuuichi" He sighed. 'Here comes another one...' He looked towards the one that had called him, and saw a familiar brunette. He raised an eyebrow. 'Oh yeah. He still haven't remember' "Yeah?"

"U-umm.. Do you know where's Ryuuichi? I need to ask him something.." He sighed again. "Absent for Chess Competition in Tokyo. Won't be back til tomorrow evening" He mechanically said as he ate his lunch box. "One question" He turned back towards the brunette.

"Why was everyone searching for him? I mean, Hibari and Gokudera were looking for him, and now you're looking for him too"

Tsuna sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "W-well..... Hibari-san probably wanted a spar for all I know... And Gokudera-kun wanted to ask Ryuuichi about UMA or something about Science..." He avoided the gaze of the other teen's. "I... Could I seat here?" Yuuichi nodded, wondering what was with Tsuna.

"E-eer.. W-well... Yesterday, Ryuuichi told me something that I couldn't understand.. I never had the chance to ask him before he went home.. So..."

Yuuichi chuckled at that. No wonder the brunette was looking for his brother. Ryuuichi always have the tendency to say something weird or a riddle that most couldn't understand. If you look into his notebook, you would find a whole lot more stuff that you couldn't understand. Not to mention all was written in English. "He told you something akin to a poem or riddle, didn't he?" He shook his head when Tsuna nodded.

He leaned back against the tree's trunk he was sitting under. "Don't worry. You'll know what he meant once it's time... Well, that's the case, usually"

\--------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi nerves hadn't settle even after playing five rounds already. He was fidgeted as he and his club mates waited for the dismissal. He played on his phone, more like stared at it. He could already start speaking without snapping at anyone after the first round, but he still couldn't calm down. He was still jumpy even though he had won all the five rounds and there will be three more rounds tomorrow.

They will be staying in an inn for the night in Tokyo before going back Namimori the next day. Fortunately, he would be staying alone in one room because of the uneven number of players in their team. He don't think he could stand sleeping with someone for the night other than his family members and Tsuna and the others. (How did Tsuna and his guardians fall into that category was still unknown to even him)

He sighed in relieved when they were dismissed, and literally sped walked to his room. Along the way, he accidentally bumped into a familiar teen as their stuff scattered on the ground. "S-sorry!" They quickly gathered their stuff from the ground. Ryuuichi's eyes widen and paused for a millisecond when he heard the familiar voice.

They both stood up as he gave his stuff to the teen. "Here. Sorry about that" 'Why is he here....?' And they parted way, Ryuuichi didn't really know what to do.

It wasn't until Ryuuichi threw himself on the bed in the room he was staying for the night and wanting to play on his phone did he realized that the phone was his. He's mind immediately went to the incident just now. He slapped his forehead and cussed. 'Dammit!!' He sat up and unlocked the phone, luckily it didn't need any password.

He dialed his phone number and waited for the one who had his phone to pick up.

"U-umm.. H-hello..?" He let out a sigh of relieved when he heard the familiar voice. At least he knew that his phone was really with the teen.

"Ah- Sorry. Are you the one that I've bumped into just now by the corridor?"

"Y-yes..." He chuckled inwardly.

"My apologies. It seems like we had accidentally switched our phones during that time. Could we meet up now?"

\--------------------------------------------------------

"E-excuse me..?" He heard someone called. He looked up from his notebook he was scribbling to pass the time while waiting for him and smiled. "Ah yes." He held up the phone. The teen sighed in relieved and sat down on the chair in front of Ryuuichi. They were in the cafeteria the inn had.

"Sorry about all this" Ryuuichi said as they exchanged their phone. After confirming that the phone was his, he looked towards the teen. "I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi. You are..?" "A-ah Irie Shoichi...."

He smiled. "Are you participating the Chess Competition too, Irie?" He didn't really expect the teen to say yes. The teen was a genius in technology and robots. He didn't know that he was good at Chess too. "Heh. So which school are you representing?"

"Yumei Private Middle School"

"Oh? Namimori too? I'm from Namimori Middle School" He smiled.

Shoichi felt unnerved. There's something about this teen in front of him that made him unsettled. His smiles made him felt like he was naked under the gaze of the teen. "Are you interested in Robots and Technologies?" He was taken away. How did he know? They had just met each other, not to mention it's because of an accident.

"A-ah Sorry. Your wallpaper of the robot gave me the thought that you like them.."

"I do..." He could tell that the teen was faking all the surprises and all. "Hehhh~ So you're going to be an engineer in the future?"

"N-no.. I want to be a musician..." Ryuuichi blinked. The teen was sharper than he thought. Then again, he was the strategist. He smiled again. "Hmmm~ I hope the best for you. Though, if you felt that you had to give up on being a musician, remember to strive for being an engineer." He didn't give the teen any chance to say anything and he had walked off. "I hope we could have a match tomorrow"

'Not now, Shoichi... Not now..' Ryuuichi looked towards the setting sun through the window of his room. '... Ryohei...'

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna was both happy and relieved. Happy because Ryohei had won and relieved because he wasn't injured much. The first match was a one-on-one match of the bearers of the Sun Rings. Ryohei's opponent was a girly looking guy named Lussuria and their battle ring was a boxing ring with bright lights. At first, Lussuria was the one with upper hand with the sunglasses on but as time goes by, Ryohei managed to break the lights. With that, the tables slowly turned.

Ryohei won. He actually won.

"No. No! I'm Varia! I'll win even with one leg. It'll be easy!" Tsuna and the others wondered why Lussuria was panicking. The man stood up from his lying position and frantically told Ryohei to continue, only to be shot by the back. "'Kill the weak'. That is one of the reasons why Varia is one of the most powerful organization" Reborn had said.

"Lussuria panicked because of that"

" _Tomorrow, two sun shall rise.  
Though, there won't be two_."

Tsuna recalled what Ryuuichi had said. His eyes widen as he shook. He shakingly muttered ".... One shall rise as planned... Whilst one shall fall..." He covered his mouth. 'Did Ryuuichi knew about this?! Did he knew what would happen!!?' "Tsuna?" "Juudaime?" He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear his best friends call.

Reborn had a solemn look. He had overheard what Ryuuichi had told his student yesterday. 'Ryohei is the one that rises.. While Lussuria is the one that falls...' He himself couldn't believe it. How did Ryuuichi knew about what will happen in the match when he himself wasn't present. 'He couldn't be a shaman....'

"Tomorrow night's battle will be Thunder" One of the Cervello announced.

Tomorrow night, it would be Leviathan and Lambo. The Thunder.

\--------------------------- **The Next Day** \-------------------------------

_Click_. Tap.

"Check mate" Ryuuichi declared. He looked up from the chess board and smiled. Shoichi's eyes widen as he looked at the pieces. Indeed, he had lost. He slumped onto his chair and huffed. "Thank you for the game" Ryuuichi said as he shook hands with the teen with glasses.

"Thank you, too" They had taken their score to the arbiter of the game and had walked out of the hall together. "You're really tough, Shiroki-san" Shoichi huffed again. Really, he had to control his stomach ache in the middle of the game because of the nerves that was getting to him.

Ryuuichi chuckled. He shifted his backpack behind him before speaking up. "Call me Ryuuichi. You're tough yourself, Irie. I thought I was going to lose back there" He looked at the flustered teen in amusement. It was true. He would have lost the last match if not for the one mistake Shoichi made.

"Y-you're flattering me, Ryuuichi-kun..." He chuckled again. "It's the truth. You could've won if you didn't overlook the bishop." He took out his phone and checked the time. '2.00...' He looked back at the teen who was thinking back the game before sighing in resignation. "It has been a while since I last felt the pinch, Irie. I'm happy that I was able to play with you" He smiled.

Shoichi finally saw a different type of smile on the other's face. "I felt the same, Ryuuichi-kun. Please, call me Shoichi in return" He grinned.

"Oh, let's exchange phone numbers. Maybe we could meet up some day to play again"

\--------------------------------------------------------------

"Tsunayoshi" Tsuna looked up and was surprised saw Yuuichi. Gokudera and Yamamoto themselves were shocked. They all didn't notice the teen coming up the roof top as they had lunch. (That's probably because of you, Gokudera) Yuuichi was holding his phone in one hand as he stood beside Tsuna. "U-umm Yes?"

Yuuichi sighed. He couldn't really understand why his brother had asked him for such favor. He hold up his phone and let Tsuna looked into it. "Ryuu wanted me to give you this message"

'From : Ryuuichi  
XXX-XXX-XXXX

_Pass this message to Tsunayoshi_

' _As strong as it may looked,  
Do not hesitate to reach for Lightning_''

Tsuna stared at the message, mouth agape. "W-wha-" Yuuichi sighed again. He locked his phone and kept it in his pocket, stuffing his hands in it along. "Don't ask me. Even I don't understand" Ryuuichi always says the weirdest thing out of nowhere. This time was no different. Yuuichi remembered that he had to go through all the headaches he had whenever Ryuuichi gave him a riddle and such.

"Y-yuuichi! Could I borrow your phone to call him?" Tsuna shot up from his place, surprising the wits out of him. He looked away and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, his phone was off. But if it's urgent, I will tell him to find you tonight. He probably will reach here by 6 in the evening" Tsuna couldn't ask anything more because the bell that signaled the end of lunch break had rang.

"Opps. I need to go now." Yuuichi walked away hurriedly to his classroom. He didn't want to risk getting 'bitten to death' by a certain prefect. Not to mention that Ryuuichi wasn't around to stop the blood thirsty prefect.

\------------------------------------------------------------

When night falls, Ryuuichi was finally back in Namimori. It was already late. He need to hurry up. "I'm home! I'll be back a little later!" He tossed away his backpack by the door way and ran out the door again. "Wha- Ryuu?!" He ignored the call from Yuuichi as he pushed out his bicycle. He cycled as fast as he could to the school and tried to be as careful as possible because the street was wet of rain water.

He reached the school gate just in time to find Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei running out. A battered Lambo was in Tsuna's embrace. They were surprised to find a panting Ryuuichi on his bicycle. "Tsunayoshi! Get on! We have to get Lambo to the hospital as fast as we could!" The brunette snapped out of his shock and got on at the extra seat the bicycle had. "Hold on tight! We'll go ahead first!"

Reborn had jumped onto Tsuna's head as Ryuuichi cycled off again, this time, the hospital.

As they waited for the doctors to treat Lambo in the waiting room, and waiting for the rest to arrive, Tsuna and Reborn begun questioning Ryuuichi.

"Ryuuichi... Did you already knew what would happen...?" Tsuna slowly said. He had tons of questions in his mind that he didn't really know how to ask. The fact that things went according to how the teen implied was not funny at all.

Ryuuichi huffed. He knew that Tsuna would ask. After all, who wouldn't when all those happened. He took a slight notice that the ring that was chained on Tsuna's neck was gone. "... Not exactly..." It was a lie. It's not like he can tell the truth, right? Of course, Tsuna and Reborn didn't brought it. He held his hand up when Tsuna was about to say something.

"There's a few reasons that I can't tell you. And I can't tell you those reasons either"

"Ryuuichi!"

"I apologize. But I honestly can't say.... At least... Not now" Ryuuichi had his eyes covered by his bangs. "I will tell you one day. All of you... Just, not now..." He peered up and looked at both of them in the eyes. "Can you trust me?" He smiled softly when they both nodded. "Thank you..." (Tsuna's intuition told him that he could trust him. Reborn couldn't help but trust him. There's something in him that was attracted to whatever the teen does)

He let out a loud sigh as he slumped onto the backrest of the sofa he was sitting on, fatigue finally getting him. "Right.... So anything else?"

"U-umm.. Are you the one that helped me 6 years ago?" Tsuna meant the time when two children of his age had helped him when he had fallen from his bicycle. He briefly remembered one of the two had told him that he wasn't useless and had something more than he believe. His assumption was correct when Ryuuichi laughed out loud.

"You just realized it, Tsunayoshi? After almost a year?" He finally found them. The ones that gave him courage 6 years ago. He flushed a little. No wonder the teen and his brother looked so familiar when he first saw them. He didn't have much chance to say anything because Reborn suddenly spoke up.

"Are you a shaman?" Reborn asked out of the blue. Tsuna and Ryuuichi blinked at him, though, Tsuna didn't understood what the hitman was saying, unlike Ryuuichi. The dark brown haired teen chuckled a little. "No." Reborn himself should have known it. There are no shaman in this world other than the downline of  _her_. "But the reasons I answer you guys fully has a rather similar one with why a shaman couldn't say what they had saw"

Ryuuichi gave Reborn a knowing smile, not out of sympathy. The hitman definitely do not need to be sympathize. Reborn tugged his fedora down, hiding his emotions. Ryuuichi's phone rang . He looked at the contact and it was Yuuichi who called him. "It's getting quite late now. I've to get back." He stood up and walked to the door but stopped and turned towards the brunette.

" _Once the sun sets,  
And Lightning and Thunder sounded,  
Storm comes next.   
After the storm,  
Brought forth the rain.  
Once rain let up,  
Mist will deceit,  
_ _Cloud shall drift,  
_ _And the sky shall appear_ "

"Tsuna, believe, and strive" Was the last thing he said before walking off.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will combine two match at the same time on each chapter for the Varia Arc. I've forgone the part where Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei, Tsuna and Reborn walking home after sending Lambo to the hospital.
> 
> Ryuuichi's strange behavior will be explain in later chapters.
> 
> Ryuuichi, Yuuichi, Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto are currently 14 years old, the second year of Middle school, following the year. But Ryuuichi, Yuuichi and Tsuna are still 13 if following their birthday. They will officially be 14 after it. I got this age stuff sorted out just now because it was a bit confusing.
> 
> Look up for Shaman on Reborn Wikia if you don't understand what they meant.
> 
> The twins behavior sometimes switches here and there so it might be a little confusing. [I'm confused as well.]
> 
> It wasn't mentioned that Shoichi knows how to play chess. But because he was a good strategist, I presumed that he knew how to. To simply put it, the fact that he knew how to play chess was made up.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	13. Storm and Rain

Ryuuichi hummed as he looked over the whole of Namimori on the roof top as the sun slowly, but surely, raised. His headphone were on as a slow song played. He had came to school two hours before it started, accompanying his brother who had morning practices. He himself had club activities in the morning, but he wasn't in the mood to go, so he had skipped and since it was still very early, he decided to spend some time walking around the school.

'Now that I think about it... There's abandon music room somewhere...' He walked out of the roof top and towards where he thought the music room was. Unknown to him, Hibari was on his usual spot on the roof, out of the teen's view. He was listening to his humming silently. He opened his eyes when he heard the footsteps and the sound of the closing door. "Hibari. Hibari" His yellow bird called out. He stretched out a hand for the bird to land as he yawned.

Ryuuichi slid open the door and looked into the room. It looked abandoned alright. The dark blue curtains looked like they haven't been washed or changed for quite a while. He walked up to the piano in front of the classroom and placed a hand on it. Dust were piling on top of the piano. He took a cloth that was on a random table and used it to whip the dust away from the piano, coughing a little as the small particles flew about.

He gingerly opened the cover and stroked the keys lightly, his pointer finger then pressed on a white key. The sound of the middle C sounded so off. He then remembered that a teacher that was blabbering nonsense, much to his chagrin, had mentioned about this music room. The teacher said that this room was abandoned because it was haunted. It was said that the guard that was patrolling around the school had heard the sound of piano in the middle of the night, and when they checked, there was no one.

At first, of course, nobody believed the guard at first, but a few students and teachers started experiencing it themselves, they knew it was haunted.

He scoffed. It's not like he don't believe in ghost, but he didn't exactly believe it either. He sat down on the piano stool, fingers on the key, as he slowly played a piece he vaguely remembered. He had learnt playing the piano before, but it has been years since he last played it. He winced a little when the last note sounded so terribly off. The piano must haven't been tuned for quite a while.

Though, he wasn't going to complain. After all, he can't tell anyone he knew how to play the piano. His fingers begun moving again, playing a different piece. His right leg pressed on the pedal repeatedly as he gradually got louder, before it softens again. Memories of his past life slowly appeared, hazy after all these years of burying them deep in his mind.

_"Xxx!! Play a song!!"_

_"Well, if only you play one for me~!"_

_"Fine!!"_

He smiled in nostalgia. He was so deep in his thoughts and concentration, he didn't realized someone was listening to him all the time.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Gokudera had been folding paper planes since last night and tried to shoot it down. It will be his turn and he hadn't completed his training, nor had he done any improvisation. No matter how he tried, he couldn't hit those paper planes. When he asked Shamal, that damned perverted doctor said it was like flirting. He was still 14. How does he know how to flirt! And he wasn't interested in anyone right now, nor had the interest to be in a relationship. Right now, what matters is Tsuna and Vongola.

He was currently taking a break, as Shamal had forced him to, and was strolling around the school ground. He hadn't really explore the school every since he was transferred here. His steps faltered to a stop when he heard the sound of a familiar instrument. Bad memories suddenly rushed into his mind like a bullet train that made him scowled.

He snorted. The one playing the piano was really bad. The flow was stiff and there were mistakes here and there. But, there was something in the music. Unconsciously, his feet brought him to the music room. Quietly, he peeked in, and saw a teen with dark brown hair. 'Drake?'

An emotion that he didn't really understand bubbled in him as he suppressed a shiver that ran up his spine. Ryuuichi was smiling, his eyes shone in happiness, nostalgia and sadness. He never knew that the teen knew how to play the piano. Then again, Ryuuichi never really mentioned much about himself anyway.

' _Yato, don't sulk or give up on finding a solution when you're in a pinch. Think, and concentrate. There's nothing in this world that exist or happens without an explanation_ '

Ryuuichi's messaged played in his mind. The teen once had played mind trick question on him, and he couldn't answer it. Of course, he got frustrated and had given up. He had given him the answer, and sent that message along. Then his mind wandered to the dynamites and Shamal and his trident mosquito. A idea suddenly popped out in his mind. His eyes lit up and he had ran back towards where Shamal was, silently thanking Ryuuichi.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi silently tapped a message on his phone to Yuuichi, as he leaned against the wall along side with Tsuna, Reborn, Yamamoto, Basil and Ryohei. They were panicking as Gokudera hadn't arrive even though it was already the time. He, on the other hand, wasn't a bit fazed. He knew that the bomber would show up, in a quite flashy way.

As on cue, the large clock on the wall exploded and a Gokudera in an open blue shirt with his torso bandaged up appeared. He smiled when he saw the bomber. The Cervello had accepted that he had came on the appointed time, and proceeded to explain the field of the Storm Ring Battle.

Ryuuichi suddenly felt vibration against the wall when a classroom's door were blasted along with the tables and chair out of the window. He whistled at the sheer power of the hurricane turbine. It really lived up his name, though, it was still a time ticking bomb. The hurricane turbines placed in every room on that floor would explode when it's times. In another words, a death match. He frowned. He certainly wouldn't like it if anyone were to die right now.

Shamal just have to make an appearance, don't he. And he really wasn't in the right mind to hit on the Cervello.

Right before the match started, Ryohei had pulled them into a circle, successfully pulled the silent Ryuuichi along despite his protest. "Gokudera, Fight!" He sighed inwardly as he retreated to his previous spot on the wall. Really, like Shamal had said, it is embarrassing to be young. But it's really heartwarming.

Gokudera and Belphegor walked up to the center, as infrared sensors were turned on. It was to prevent the same incident that happened in the Lightning Ring match from happening. They looked at the monitors the Cervello had conveniently prepared. Ryuuichi watched with cautious eyes as Belphegor approached the bomber and patted on his shoulder.

" _Seriously, underhanded tricks are lame, Belphegor_ " He muttered in Italian. Tsuna, Yamamoto and Ryohei didn't understand what he was saying but the rest did. Shamal and Basil gave him a confused and bewildered look while Reborn silently peered at him through the shadow cast from his fedora. Ryuuichi smirked at their looks as he raised a hand, his pointer finger to his lips that indicated he won't be saying anything.

A loud explosion brought their attention to the monitor again as the battle started. Dynamites and knives were thrown here and there as they begun fought. Soon, the hurricane turbines started joining in. Belphegor mentioned about reading the direction of the wind and such but honestly, Ryuuichi couldn't really trust him. Not when the prince was using a tricks. 'Well, it wasn't exactly a trick too...'

He watched as Gokudera ran to hide as he planted a dynamite that exploded in seconds to create a smoke screen. 'Yato, it won't work. Think!'

Gokudera scowled and hissed when three knives cut his left arm. He cussed. How was it possible for that so called genius to hit him when he himself was still in the hallway. He started to think for the cause. How did the knives managed to find him? How was Belphegor managed to control the knives. Then, something hit him. Belphegor had touched his shoulder before the match started.

Ryuuichi smiled. He knew that Gokudera had figured out. He took his eyes off the monitor to the rest that was all concentrating on the match going on. The genius smirked evilly as he slid dozens of knives out. "For the finale surging attack, I'll make you into a cactus, full with needles" He threw the knives as he greeted a bye bye.

Everyone gasped in horror as the knives moved in the wind and hit a figure. "Ushishishi~ Cactus, complete~" Slowly, the figure fall out of the door. When they looked carefully, the figure wasn't the bomber. It was a human model. Ryuuichi cringed at the sight of the doll. He never liked seeing these kind of stuff, nor dolls. Nope. He definitely do not like those creepy plastics.

The doll slowly moved, dragged towards Gokudera by the wire. "Before the match," Gokudera begun "You patted my shoulder and at the same time you placed a wire on it. You even numbed it so I won't feel the weight"

"Then you threw your knives along the wire, so the knives would fly right at me as if they were on a rail" Ryuuichi stuffed his hands into his pocket, smiling. 'Good job, Yato' Well, the bomber himself was a genius. He scoffed when Belphegor underestimated Gokudera.

The bomber had pulled out a few dynamites that was slightly different than his usual, normal bomb. The bomb suddenly blasted through the wind towards Belphegor. Shamal looked smug. Well, of course. Who wouldn't when their student had succeed? "Rocket bombs, this is the technique Hayato learned during training" The doctor said. Reborn soon added along. "A bomb that changes direction in flight"

"With the propulsion powder packed inside, it'll change it's direction twice. The one thing that Hayato lacked was speed. Because of the bombs' design, they can't fully capture the enemy. That's why we increased the mobility of the weapon itself. He saw my trident mosquito and figured it out." Unknown to them, even Ryuuichi, it was half of the full story how he managed to get the idea. With the rocket bombs, Gokudera's attack range had widen.

A direct hit on Belphegor, indeed.

'But..'

All of them watched in horror at the Varia member's insane behavior. The true nature of the Prince of Ripper had begun. Ryuuichi took his eyes off the monitor once again. He did not want to watch the match any longer as he stared up the night sky. The sound of the dynamites exploding, the insane laughters of the prince's, the gasped from Tsuna and the others. He took in all, as the image of what happen played in his mind.

Suddenly, a louder explosion than the ones created by the dynamites, and the vibrations on the wall had him looked back at the monitor. The hurricane turbines had started exploding one by one from the other wing and would reach where Gokudera and Belphegor in a minute.

"What are you doing, octopus-head! Hurry!" Ryohei shouted. Anxious hinted in his voice. Gokudera and Belphegor rolled as the fought for the ring. Shamal couldn't watch on anymore.

"Give the enemy your Ring and pull out, Hayato!" He said. Gokudera, of course, didn't want to. "Dying for something like this is idiotic. Come back!"

"What are you saying!? If I lose, with one win and three losses, we're finished! We'll lose from a lack of manpower! I can't come back empty-handed! The name of the Tenth's right-hand man would be shamed!" Ryuuichi clenched his teeth.

"Gokudera-kun! You're worried about that?!" Tsuna yelled as another turbine exploded. Everyone was getting more anxious as the explosions got nearer to where the two were, pleading for the bomber to come back. "Hayato! Did you forget what I taught you before your training?!" Shamal said. Of course Gokudera couldn't forget about the lesson. He couldn't see his own life. That's why he was going to use it when it's the most important. "I can't back down now, even if I die!"

"Knock it off! Why do you think we're fighting?! We're going to have a snow fight and watch fireworks together! That's why we're fighting! That's why we're growing stronger! I want to laugh with everyone, but if you die, it'll all be meaningless!" Tsuna shouted, finally knocking some sense into that stubborn head of Gokudera's. Ryuuichi couldn't control it any longer and pushed himself of the wall.

"Come back here, Hayato! I've told you before! Don't throw away your life just like that! If you die, who would protect Tsuna and the others?! WHO WILL WE PROTECT?! COME BACK NOW!" He barked the order. His hands clenched into a tight fist that the knuckles had turned white. No matter what he knew would happen, no matter even if he already knew the bomber would be save, he couldn't control his anxiety and his concern. He gritted his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows as the turbine in the library exploded.

Smoke surrounded, making them not being able to see the bomber. The infrared sensor was turned off as they all ran nearer towards where Gokudera was. From the smoke, Gokudera's figure stumbled as he walked out of it before he fell onto the ground. "Gokudera!"

"I'm sorry, Juudaime. While the ring was taken from me, I came back because I wanted to see those fireworks." Gokudera begun. He looked up and towards the dark brown haired teen behind the rest. "And Ryuuichi.. I will not only protect Juudaime.. And the others... I will also protect you.." Ryuuichi was surprised. Him too? He hadn't expect that. Does he worth protecting? Does he worth the trouble? A foreign emotion swelled in his heart. He bit his lips. No one had said something like that to him before. It was always him protecting others, not the other way around. He smiled as he watched the bomber and the baseball star interact.

He rubbed the back of his head forcefully before stomping up towards the bomber and gave him a good and hard slap at the back. "Don't worry others anymore, Dumbass!" He grinned, before it faltered. 'Tomorrow.. Is the rain...'

He went away first, passing by Hibari who appeared. "Let me join you up tomorrow" He whispered.

\--------------------------The Next Day--------------------------------

"Senpai.. Let me stay at your house tonight.."

"No."

"Please? There's no one at home tonight and I'm afraid" Lies.

"No"

"..........."

".........."

".........."

"...Fine.."

Ryuuichi grinned. He and Hibari was on the roof top, where they were able to see the match of the Rain Ring Battle from the large screen. He for some reason, didn't feel like joining the rest down there. That and he wanted to at least see Hibari's house for once (Since there were quite a lot of things that weren't mentioned or known about the prefect other than a selected few facts. Especially the biting people to death part).

It was true that there won't be anyone at home because his parents had went to Kyoto to visit a relative while Yuuichi had a sleepover at his friends slash teammate's house. Though, it was definitely a lie when he said that he was afraid. He was already used to being alone at home and he knew how to protect himself, so he wasn't even a little scared. Ok maybe when a cockroach suddenly appear but that story is for other time.

He lied down, his arms as a pillow for his head as he looked up the night sky. There weren't any stars as the cloud drifted in the wind. He closed his eyes, and turned, front facing Hibari as one arm supported his head. The other idly played the sleeves of the prefect's jacket.

The prefect yawned, his yellow bird that was singing the school anthem landed on his shoulder as he paid no heed to the teen beside him. "How boring... They should finish this all at once.. Mist?" Mist slowly appeared, making Ryuuichi smiled. He had known that the other three was watching from another place. "What's the fun when you finish it so quickly, Hibari"

Hibari peered towards the teen that was smiling softly. There was a tiny hint of fear in the small animal's eyes. He didn't missed it. He wondered what was the teen fearing. He had seen all kind of emotions in those pair of dark brown orbs. He couldn't understand most, but he definitely could recognize those he had frequently saw. Fear, anger, anxiety, depression and emptiness. The teen definitely had all those, yet all covered up by his carefree feelings. He really couldn't understand him, much to his chagrin. (It's ok Hibari. Even Reborn couldn't understand him. [Cue gun shots])

He said nothing and placed his hand onto Ryuuichi's head, surprisingly, gently. Ryuuichi's eyes widen at the sudden warmth on his head. He smiled and slowly closed his eyes, leaning into the warmth.

He didn't need to watch the match to know how it goes. Squalo would lose, and Yamamoto would win. Though, Squalo would be 'killed' by the shark the Cervello had conveniently placed, and had called it a ferocious sea monster. 'Ferocious sea monster my head. Just call it a damn shark..' Slowly, he drifted into something in between slumber and conscious.

True to what he knew, Yamamoto indeed had won. The baseball star had wanted to help Squalo, who was injured, from getting eaten by the shark. But the long haired man had kicked him away before he got 'killed'.

"Brat, your skill as a swordman isn't bad. Just get rid of that softness"

"Squalo!!"

Ryuuichi snapped his eyes open when he heard Yamamoto's shout. He furrowed his eyebrows a little. He wasn't worried about the man because he knew he won't die. He pushed himself up and stretched, feeling satisfied when he heard cracks. He cracked his neck before looking at Hibari, smiling. "Should we go now?" (Hibari was a little taken away at the sight of Ryuuichi cracking his neck and mentally frowned at the sound emitted from it. Though, he definitely wouldn't say it.)

'Mist... Hurmm...'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't elaborate much on the Yamamoto's battle because I didn't have enough time. Next chapter is what probably known by most.
> 
> Ryuuichi and Yuuichi was one of those people whom Hibari don't mind what they do or if they were near him. Though, Hibari probably tolerated Yuuichi because Ryuuichi would be sad and angry if he does something to his brother.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes!]


	14. Mist and Cloud

Tsuna blinked twice, sight finally sharpen after the second. He pushed himself up and looked at the surrounding, finally noticing the Arcobaleno that was standing beside him. "You're finally awake" He asked the hitman where they were, voice slurring a little in which Reborn told him that they were in the combat field for the Mist Battle, their school's gymnasium.

"Juudaime! How are you feeling?!" Gokudera suddenly popped out, making him jump a little. Ryohei, Yamamoto and Basil was present too. The baseball star had an eyepatch on one of his eyes and was fine and dandy, fortunately. Tsuna felt relieved when his friend was alright.

"Worry about yourself before others. Everyone were worried because you had been asleep this whole time." Reborn said.

Tsuna was confused. He didn't know he was asleep the whole time, and he had a fleeting feeling that he had met someone before he blacked out. Really, how do you erase a memory of what happened in a day just by sleeping? "By the way, Juudaime, the Mist guy hasn't shown himself yet." Gokudera said, much to Tsuna's horror. The others started doubting that the Mist guardian existence. It was quite bad too, since the Varia had arrived.

Tsuna finally looked up, and saw the Cervello, an infant and the Varia. The memories before he blacked out finally came back to him, but it was hazy. Though, his thought was broken when a voice called out. "Sorry for being late. Was doing something" Everyone looked towards the entrance of the gymnasium, and saw Ryuuichi.

"Eh?! Ryuuichi's the Mist Guardian?" Tsuna exclaimed. Ryuuichi blinked and halt his steps towards them before chuckling. "No no. I'm not. Your guardian is that one" He pointed behind him and two teens in Kokuyo Middle's uniform appeared. Everyone tensed up as Gokudera took out his dynamites. (Ryuuichi laughed at their faces)

"Calm down, you guys. they brought the Guardian of Mist" Reborn interrupted, promptly stopped a war from happening. Realization hit them. "T-then could the Guardian of Mist be..." Gokudera stuttered a little. Yamamoto added his own thought "Yeah, if they're bringing him... Could it be?"

"I can't believe it. Is the Mist Guardian.. R-rokudo Mukuro?!" Ryuuichi chuckled again, making them more puzzled than they already were. "Well, let's just say, you guys are half correct." He peered behind him as a teen shorter than Ken and Chikusa with the same hairstyle with Mukuro appeared. " _Nay_ "

A girl in Kokuyo Middle's uniform and with an skull-imaged eyepatch was holding a familiar trident. "My name is Chrome. Chrome Dokuro" She had a splitting image with Mukuro if not for a few differences. They could pass off as a twins if they want to. Gokudera was stubborn on the fact that Chrome was Mukuro because of their similarity, making Ryuuichi sigh.

The bomber had thought that Mukuro was possessing the girl, which wasn't exactly true. The girl looked dishearten when Gokudera didn't believe her and stated out his reasons, until Tsuna interrupted him. "Not Rokudo Mukuro" The brunette must have felt that the presence of Mukuro wasn't on her. Ryuuichi smiled at that.

'Your hyper intuition really helps, Tsuna'

"You defended me? Thank you, Boss" Chrome said as she ran up towards Tsuna, looking a little bashful. (She looked more like emotionless, rather than bashful) She leaned in and gave the brunette a kiss on the cheek, making Tsuna blushes, much to Ken and Gokudera's chagrin, while Yamamoto, Ryohei and Basil sweated. Ryuuichi laughed out loudly at the red brunette. The girl must have been accustomed to foreign greetings, rather than the usual Japanese one.

He looked towards the Varia with a smirk that he couldn't stop but had it on. They were clearly underestimating Chrome, seeing that she was a girl. Well, it's their lost anyway.

Xanxus had his usual poker face on. He narrowed his eyes a little at the smirking teen. There was something about the teen that he couldn't pin point what ever since they first met. He not only wasn't afraid of his flame, but he had actually whistled in amazement with a grin. He wasn't faze when their gaze met just now too and if not, the teen's smirk had gotten larger.

Ryuuichi looked away from the Varia boss and towards the Mosca. His smirk dropped and he frowned, narrowing his eyes at it. 'Please, wait a little longer...'

"And, what will you do? Will you let her join us?" Ryohei asked, to which Gokudera rejected strongly and ended up riling up Ken and Chikusa. "Ken, Chikusa, calm down. It's not something for you to decide" Chrome stopped them and turned towards Tsuna. "Boss, am I unfit to be your Guardian of Mist? I want to fight as your guardian, but if you say no, I'll obey" Strangely enough, this girl is the polar opposite of Mukuro.

"That's a little sudden. I-it's an important matter" Reborn jumped onto Yamamoto's shoulder with great ease. "But Chrome is the only one who can fight as your Guardian of Mist"

"R-reborn-san, you too?! We still have Ryuuichi!" Everyone looked towards the said teen who sighed and had his hands up. "Yato, don't drag me in. I'm not suitable to be a guardian.. And I am not the one who should be" The last part was muttered softly. Tsuna felt that Reborn was right. Not to mention that Ryuuichi's statement had meant that Chrome is the one who would be fighting as his guardian. Besides, it was Iemitsu who chose her, including Gokudera and Yamamoto. 'And this girl...'

"All right then, it's up to you" Of course, Gokudera wasn't accepting it. "I can't really put it into words, but I feel like it has to be her" Chrome smiled, grateful and relieved. She thanked Tsuna with a smile.

Suddenly, Reborn's pacifer glowed. "So he's curious too" They looked up and saw a infant carried by an eagle. "Colonello!" "Master! Shouldn't you be asleep at Kyoko's by now?" (Ryuuichi briefly wondered how the hell the infant managed to speak while blowing bubbles through his nose. Then again, he might as well not know.)

Colonello's bubble popped as he had a serious expression on. "However, I need to figure out whether that the mysterious kid is an Arcobaleno or not" Ryuuichi walked towards the side where the others will be standing later and sat down on the floor, crossed legged. His eyes glinted in amusement. It would certainly be a show later when they found it out. He yawned when the Cervello explained the Mist Ring Battle field. There wasn't any special stuff installed for this match, as it would be a battle of illusions and creations after all.

A metal rimmed into a cuboid shape slowly lowered onto their perimeters, a few meters away from Ryuuichi, as they were all enclosed with infrared laser to prevent anyone from getting out of the spectator area. Varia had the same treatment on their side.

And, the battle started. Chrome rushed forward with her trident, twirling it before knocking it on the ground, casting an illusion as the ground broke into pieces. All of them, except for Reborn, Colonello and Ryuuichi, panicked as they were 'falling'. Mammon went nearer the girl, when blue tentacles suddenly appeared from his hood and wrapped around Chrome.

The illusions of the ground breaking disappeared. Chrome was strangled by the tentacles, much to Tsuna's and the other's horror. Ryuuichi, was as usual, not worried. He smirked because the supposedly strangled girl turned into the basketballs' basket as the real one appeared behind the infant.

He basically ignored most of the other's talk because he wasn't interest in it at all. Instead, he leaned back, supported by his hands that was holding him up, and enjoyed the show. Suddenly, a chain fell down from the inside of Mammon's black cloak and Phantasma, Mammon's frog turned into a reptile. An Indigo pacifer appeared. Mammon is an Arcobaleno.

Reborn's and Colonello's own pacifer glowed. "That spiral frog and that indigo pacifer. He was alive, kora!"

Reborn had suspected much. It wasn't everyday you see an infant sized human talking like an adult after all. "He is the Arcobaleno, Viper!" Ryuuichi sighed inwardly. That Arcobaleno is a greedy one. He was also very materialistic and usually work for money. 'One consumed by the sin, Greed, huh....' He looked at the Varia. To be honest, all the member in the Varia had reminded him of the sins.

Lussuria as Lust, Leviathan as Envy, Belphegor as Sloth, Squalo as Pride, Mammon as Greed and Xanxus as Wrath. 'Though, the Mosca..' His thought was brought back when he saw Mammon wrapped by snakes at the corner of his eyes. He scoffed and shook his head when Gokudera and Tsuna just have to compare Mukuro and Chrome and link them together. 'Then again, they are linked... One way or another, that is'

Hot lava burst out of the ground here and there. One burst just behind Ryuuichi, making him sweated a little. They looked real enough with his untrained eyes on illusions alright. Another moment next, everything was frozen. The whole gymnasium looked like an ice cave. It was quite a sight.

Though, it was an illusion. Ryuuichi realized it a second after Colonello speak up. Chrome's leg started freezing up, before she was thrown off and fell onto the ground, her trident landed not far from her grasp. She quickly reached for it and brought it nearer to her. Mammon seemed to have found her weakness, and had broke the trident into pieces.

"No!!"

Chrome coughed and collapsed, her stomach caving in. Everyone was confused, even Mammon.

"This is an illusion. What's happening? What's with this girl?" Ryuuichi knew why. That girl had lost her internal organs after getting hit by a truck for trying to save a cat. Her parents had one way or another abandoned her. They were one of the type of people Ryuuichi hated, and still hates. It was Mukuro who had helped her. Mukuro had made her organs with his illusions. He was the one who saved her from dying even when he was in Vindice, locked up in the water.

A dreaded and familiar feeling hit Tsuna like a bullet train. He knew that feeling. Mist suddenly appeared and surrounded Chrome. "He's coming." Tsuna said. "He's coming! It's him! He's coming!" The previously shattered trident slowly reappeared out of nowhere onto the hand on the ground as the hand turned black(A.K.A Glove). "Mukuro is! Rokudo Mukuro is coming!"

True to what Tsuna felt, Mukuro was there, though not physically. Ryuuichi was a bit taken away. He knew that Tsuna could feel Mukuro's presence, but he hadn't expected that he himself would feel it too. Perhaps it's because Mukuro had tried to take over his mind before. But the chance of him feeling it was very slim just because of that.

Mist gathered and swirled around the girl's form, shielding whatever was within it. "Kufufufufu~" The trident slammed down the floor again, and it cracked, towards Mammon, hitting him at the same time. The mist dispersed and finally, a guy appeared instead of the girl. "You all seem lively as ever, little mafiosi."

It was Mukuro. Ryuuichi smiled. "It's been awhile. I've come back from the edge of transmigration" Mukuro turned towards them. His heterochromatic eyes met dark brown ones. He smirked at the teen, before turning back to the Arcobaleno.

"Rokudo Mukuro?" Mammon floated from the ground. "I thought I'd heard the name somewhere. I remember now. About a month ago, someone tried to escape from the Vindice prison. His name was Rokudo Mukuro. But I heard the escape ended in failure and he was then thrown into the lowest level of the prison, where even light and sound couldn't reach him"

Ryuuichi smile faltered. If he remembered correctly, Mukuro...

"I see that the Intelligence of Varia, the prided Vongola Special Assassination Squad, is pathetic." Mukuro retorted, smugly. "In reality, I am right here"

A snow blizzard happened, freezing Mukuro, who was amused. "Oh, my" Basil gasped as the blue haired teen was completely frozen in ice. A hammer appeared from the hood of Mammon's, as the Arcobaleno rushed forward towards the frozen teen. But before he could even hit him, Mukuro's red eyes changed into the kanji one and lotus wrapped around Mammon tightly.

The ice encasing Mukuro slowly melted and evaporated into steam. He chuckled. "Who is an illusion?" The lotus wounded tighter around Mammon, suffocating and hurting him. Ryuuichi smiled. So much for underestimating the mist of the Tenth generation of Vongola family, huh. Mukuro was clearly more powerful than Mammon, and perhaps, on par with Hibari. Ryuuichi sweated. Luckily Hibari wasn't around. He doubt the prefect would not have a war the blue haired teen alone after all that.

Mammon's pacifer glowed again and the lotus loosen around him. "Don't get so elated!!" Ryuuichi scoffed. Mammon had created an illusion out of anger, resulting it too be weaker than usual. Mukuro's red eyes glowed as he slashed all the Mammon clones.

"A magician that use martial combat? That's blasphemy! I won't accept the transmigration of souls either! Human repeat their lives infinitely, over and over. That's why I collect money!" Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes at those words. It's true that human lives over and over again. They are either reincarnated, or is like Ryuuichi. He still haven't had the proof that he really was transferred here. There's no clue, nor firm confirmation on it.

His head hurt when his surrounding started swirling. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temple, feeling a little nauseous. He tried to concentrate on the match, rather than the motions, (He had a mild case of motion sickness) but he couldn't open his eyes. The sound of Mukuro's illusion didn't help either. The pain doubled when Mammon froze everything. Tsuna was the same as him.

They both felt like their head was going to split into halves. An image was played in their mind. The image of Mukuro being locked up in Vindice, the moment when Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa were escaping from the Vindice guards and the moment when Mukuro was using Chrome to communicate with Iemitsu.

Ryuuichi had his whole body curled up as he tried to push back the pain. He panted when it ended, teeth gritting the whole time from trying not to groan. 'Why me too, Mukuro? What were you implying?' He looked at the two illusionist that was fighting before closing them again. He took deep breathes to calm himself down, the pain slowly let up.

When he finally managed to open his eyes, Mukuro had already won. He saw a trial of dust escaping out the gymnasium. Mammon hadn't die. He actually saved enough energy to escape in the first place. How shrewd. Ryuuichi noticed that Mukuro took note of the mosca, and had knew about it. He shook his head and sighed loudly.

Mukuro walked towards them, eyes meeting Ryuuichi's for a moment before they turned towards Ken and Chikusa. "Mukuro-sama" "Amazing! You're so strong!" Gokudera had his dynamites out, wanting to bomb the teen.

"You should be cautious of me. I don't intend to become friendly with the mafia. I became a guardian because it would be a more convenient way to take over your body, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Ryuuichi scoffed at that. 'Prideful much, Mukuro?' He twitched when the teen turned towards him, and smirked. "And easier to understand you"

The others didn't managed to question the last sentence before Mukuro collapsed and disappeared, Chrome taking his place.

'.....'

\-------------------------------------

The next night, Ryuuichi was already there before the others' arrival. He was texting on his phone with the Cavallone boss(He had practically snatched the boss's phone and copied his number. Also, forced him to give Ryuuichi his private number too), typing furiously and in an unbelievable fast pace. He was very tensed, so tensed that he was giving out an 'approach-me-and-die' aura. Even the usually dense, airhead Ryohei could feel it. Tsuna wasn't present. He was training til the last minute with Basil and Reborn.

Ryuuichi peered towards a certain prefect. He bit the bottom of his lips and turned away, feeling impatient. The battle better start soon before he blow a fuse. A loud thump across from where they were brought their attention there. Ryuuichi clenched his hands as he watched the mosca.

The cloud ground was very wide, planted with mines and Gatling guns that would shoot at anything that's within 30 meters from it. In another words, a battle field. Ryuuichi heard Leviathan and Belphegor's mocking voice, and had promptly glared at them. The two had to suppress the urge to shiver as the temperature around them dropped. If looks could kill, they would have died.

Ryuuichi clicked his tongue and looked away. He wasn't in the mood to deal with idiots at the moment. He watched the match that started with narrowed eyes.

The mosca rushed towards Hibari and fired bullets at him, but he wasn't a bit worried. Hibari expertly dodged the bullets and rushed towards the machine, breaking off one of it's arm. As expected of Hibari, he had taken down the mosca in matters of minutes.

Ryuuichi wasn't a bit fazed at it and when Hibari literally told Xanxus to fight him. He kept his eyes on the mosca as Xanxus and Hibari fought, well, more like Hibari was attacking while the Varia boss was dodging. He could see the light from one of the eyes of the mosca glinting.

The light glowed a little. Ryuuichi gasped as a laser was shot towards the prefect. "Hibari watch out!!" The prefect was a second too slow and his side was hit. Bombs were shot out of nowhere as they all jumped away to avoid it.

He tched. The mosca was going haywire and started shooting bullets and bombs here and there. Chrome just had to run into the battle field and would be blasted because she stepped on a mine, if not for Ken and Chikusa who pushed her away. The gun were pointing at them, ready to shoot as the mosca stomped towards them.

They would have died if not of Tsuna's sudden appearance. He was in his Hyper Dying Will Mode, using his flames to block the attack from the gun and the mosca. The mosca rushed forward towards him as Ryuuichi shouted.

"Don't use your full strength, Tsunayoshi!!!"

Xanxus narrowed his eyes at the teen while the other wondered why was he telling the brunette not to use his full power. Reborn who was running towards them had heard the shout, and narrowed his eyes. 'What..?'

He gritted his teeth as he watched Tsuna attacked the mosca. He quickly got out his phone and called Dino. After the second dial, the boss had taken up. " _Hello?_ "

"Hello my ass! Where the hell are you!?! Hurry up and come here you idiot!!!" He yelled. " _Wha-_ " He was too late. Tsuna had chopped the mosca into half. "ENOUGH SHITS! JUST GET HERE!" He hung up and rushed towards where Tsuna was. An old man was in the mosca, surprising the hell out of everyone. He managed to grab onto the old man before he fall onto the ground.

"K-kyuudaime" "Hey! Are you ok?"

Reborn rushed towards them with a with a first aid box. "Oi! Get a hold of yourself!" He clicked his tongue and looked at the mosca. Ryuuichi quickly moved away the restrains on Timoteo, trying to be as gentle as possible. Timoteo's powers were used to function the mosca, so he's probably in the verge of dying right now. He glared at Xanxus as the boss said the Tsuna had attacked the Ninth.

They were all panicking. Ryuuichi was suppressing himself from shouting again. 'Where the hell is Dino?!?!' His being trembled as in anger as he listened silently at Xanxus's word.

"Who mercilessly punched that old man? Who scorched the mosca into two, along with the old man?" He brought his attention towards the old man in his arms when he moved. A hand reached towards Tsuna, as the hoarse voice of Timoteo's stopped whatever the brunette were thinking. "No. It was my fault"

"Kyuudaime.."

"We're finally able to meet, Tsunayoshi-kun" He softly said. He apologized. "All this happened because of my weakness. My weakness woke Xanxus from his long slumber. "Slumber? What do you mean? After Xanxus left the 'crib', he left the Family and should have been placed under heavy surveillance by Vongola"

Reborn said, voice full with seriousness. "The greatest coup d'etat attempt in Vongola history occurred eight years ago. The dreadful fact that the Ninth's son was responsible was kept secret. Only the tops of Vongola and the elite who fought in that battle knew of it."

Ryuuichi felt his heart calmed a little, finally able to control his emotions. Xanxus had been sleeping for eight years. And the cause of it was actually the old man. He watched in silence as the Ninth talked to Tsuna, having a flame over the forehead of the brunette's.

He watched as Tsuna and Xanxus conversated as everything went by as a blur to him. The declaration of the Sky Ring battle, the compulsory present of all the guardians, everything was nothing but a buzz to him. Right now, Ryuuichi couldn't really function. He was in the process of snapping, when suddenly all the desire to had gone, making him a little lifeless. It wasn't an unusual thing for him. It had happened before.

"Were we too late?" Dino's voice broke him out of his reverie. "You, take the Ninth and any injured" He ordered as his men went into action. Ryuuichi helped the Ninth onto the stretcher, as the old man was taken away. He stood there, staring at the surrounding, feeling empty.

"Ryuuichi?" Dino called out. The teen looked at the Cavallone boss and made him flinched. The dark brown eyes were blank. "Ryuuichi? Are you alright?" He watched as the teen slowly nodded. He slowly opened his mouth before closing them, repeating the same movement twice. 

Ryuuichi didn't know what to say. It was like all his thoughts and emotions suddenly cut off. "I'm ok..." Slowly, his mind started working again. He looked towards the infant, who had his eyes shadowed by his fedora. He could see the anger from the Arcobaleno. He bent down and picked up Reborn. He saw the questions swirling in the dark eyes of the hitman.

"... I can't interrupt...." He said. Reborn looked up and into his eyes. He was promptly taken away when he saw hesitation and regret along with a few that he couldn't tell. Why would the teen felt regret? What is there to regret? Everything had happen, they couldn't do anything.

But he knew. The hitman knew that if Ryuuichi had interfered, none of this would happen. Though, a part of him knew that Ryuuichi couldn't. One couldn't simply interrupt whatever fate has thrown to them after all. Nothing good will happen if they do.

Reborn just silently sat in Ryuuichi's embrace. He patted softly on the arm of the teen's.

'No one blames you, Ryuuichi..'

Him, along with everyone else in the field, looked towards Tsuna.

'Tsuna will fix it..'

 

 

\------------------------- **Bonus** \------------------------------

"Hibari! Stop being so stubborn!" Ryuuichi pulled at the prefect's arm, trying to drag him to get a check up. Of course, Hibari refused to but Ryuuichi wouldn't let him off.

"You're getting checked on your injuries no matter what! Don't. Even. Think. About. Running. Away" Hibari wasn't afraid of the darken tone of the teen's. No. He wasn't and never will.

"No" He stubbornly said as he tried to get out of the teen's vice grip.

"Hibari" Stop.

"...."

Sometimes, he wondered if he should call the small animal a carnivore, rather than small animal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, Ryuuichi's behavior will be explained in the later chapters, not now. Not yet.
> 
> Ryuuichi would frequently blank out, but he's not broken. [Current me= *sigh* What was I thinking back then?]
> 
> For the Bonus= And with that, Hibari was dragged to get checked on. Side note, he tried to hit the teen with his tonfa, only to find out that they weren't in his grasp, but in Ryuuichi's. [Current Me= *cringe attack*]
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes. ]


	15. Sky

"Ummm Ryuuichi...?" The said teen turned his head towards the one who called him, Yuuichi copying his movement. Tsuna sweated when Ryuuichi stared at him without a word, before turning away, burying his face on Yuuichi's neck. 'What the-'

Yuuichi sighed at his brother's behavior. He looked at Tsuna with an apologetic smile. "Sorry 'bout that. He's in one of his mood." He tried to loosen Ryuuichi's hold on his waist, and gained a protesting whine, and he had promptly gave up. He sighed again. "Is there anything you need, Tsunayoshi?" He asked the brunette

Tsuna was in a dilemma, not knowing whether he should say it in front of Yuuichi. He remembered that Ryuuichi had told them to not mention a single thing about the mafia in front of his brother. The teen must be trying to protect his brother from the dark world of mafia. 'Should I..?'

Ryuuichi was observing the brunette who was having a turmoil. He figured that he wanted to say something regarding yesterday's match and all but Yuuichi was present. He wasn't really in the mood and he didn't wanted to let go of his body pillow. He let out a peculiar loud sigh before letting go of his brother. He faced the brunette without a word and pulled him away from the court yard where he and Yuuichi was having a break.

Yuuichi could only blink in surprise. Whenever his brother was in that condition, he never really respond to anyone nor care about anything even if it's important. It was like Ryuuichi was hiding something from him that even Tsuna knew what it was. He felt a little left out because of that. Now that he think about it, Ryuuichi had been doing something recently. He was almost out every night. Yuuichi wondered if it's something that he shouldn't, _couldn't_ know.

\------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna was pulled towards the back of the school ground, where there weren't anyone. Ryuuichi let go of his wrist and leaned against the wall, arm cross. His expression made him flinched. He felt that he had made a bad choice just now.

Ryuuichi saw the flinch. He sighed, ruffling his hair a little. "Sorry. I'm a bit snappy whenever I'm like this.." He didn't want to scare the brunette, nor made him felt that he had annoyed him. He tried to lessen the tension and asked. "Is something wrong?"

Tsuna didn't know how to start. He had quite a lot of question, a few that he knew the other teen wouldn't answer. "Well... Did you knew about Kyuudaime was in the mosca?" He slowly said. He had been wondering about it since last night after Ryuuichi had shouted for him to not use his full power. He couldn't ask Reborn seeing that the hitman would probably hit him. When Ryuuichi nodded, he didn't know what to say anymore. He would have been shouting at him, demanding why he hadn't say anything til the match was over.

But he couldn't. The look in Ryuuichi's eyes had him shut up, words ended at the back of his throat. "..Are you alright, Ryuuichi?" He was as surprised at the question as Ryuuichi was. It just suddenly blurted out of his mouth for no reason. "I-I mean... Umm... You looked a bit depressed... And I didn't mean you have depression or anything!!" He quickly added, not wanting to offend the teen.

Ryuuichi stared at him with wide eyes. He had thought that the brunette would lash out at him, not ask about his well being. When Tsuna said that he looked depressed, he was taken away. He chuckled at the brunette who was cussing himself for saying that, bringing his attention to him. "I won't get offended that easily, Tsunayoshi" He laughed a little at the confused 'eh' the said teen emitted.

"It'll take you a thousand years to offend me" He smiled. Perhaps it was the Hyper Intuition the teen had, that he was able to read him. "... To be honest..." He started, pausing a little. "... I don't know"

"... Hah?"

It's true. He didn't know why was he so depress. He just suddenly felt like not wanting to deal with anything anymore. "Well, all in all, I'm ok."

Tsuna was relieved. Ryuuichi looked more cheerful than before. He was worried for him. Ryuuichi is his friend after all, a first friend if you counted the meeting years ago. He smiled back at him. "That's good"

Ryuuichi smirked at him, suddenly remembering something. "Hey, shouldn't you be at the roof top right now?" He hurriedly ushered the brunette to his destination. He shook his head fondly as he watched the brunette ran away, smiling the whole time. 'Thank you, Tsuna..'

\----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had dragged Yuuichi to the hospital, where Bianchi, Haru, Kyoko, Fuuta and I-Pin was. He had forced Yuuichi into helping with preparation for the party Haru and Kyoko had planned. It's the Sky Ring Battle tonight, and he will be there, only, a little later. If he remembered correctly, all of those that are involved with Tsuna and the others would be targeted. He wasn't going to let them hurt his brother, so he had brought him to where Bianchi was, who would be able to protect them. As for his parents, he had forced them to go on a two days date at Osaka and had promptly joked that they have to bring back a sibling or two for them. (Which practically all of them blushed as he laughed til his stomach hurts)

Even though Yuuichi can fight, and his strength aren't a joke, but he didn't want his brother to get involved. He won't stand a chance against the members of Varia weaponless. Ryuuichi too.

'Now that I think about it... Should I get a weapon or two?'

"Hahi! Yuuichi-san! That's croaked!" Haru's voice brought him back to earth as he saw her trying to help Yuuichi with the colour papers. They were making all sorts of decorative stuffs for the party. He laughed at his brother's attempts which earned him a pout from the latter. "Shut up!"

He looked out the window of the hospital room, and towards the direction of the school. It was very quiet and all. Silently, he prayed for their safety.

He turned towards Bianchi, who was busy with her part. She didn't realized that he was staring at her. He felt a little nostalgia. It's been a while since he last felt the feeling of having an older sister after all. And Bianchi herself is an older sister to Gokudera. He smiled. At least with Bianchi here protecting the others, he could be at ease. (Although, it would be a tad bit unfair to leave everything to her)

He stood up from the chair he was sitting and went away, towards the school. "There's something I need to do. I'll be back later so wait here, ok?" He told Yuuichi, who nodded. He could see the questions in his brother's eyes but he didn't asked, which Ryuuichi was very grateful for. He gave him an apologetic smile and went out, whispering to Bianchi when he passed by her. "Please be careful"

Yuuichi was observing his brother the whole time. It was quite surprising when Ryuuichi had told dragged him to the hospital, knowing the girls' plan even when they hadn't announced it. He could see the nostalgic look his brother gave when he was staring at Bianchi. Also, he saw him whispering something to Bianchi when he went out.

Recently, his brother was really being strange. His moments were acting up more than usual and he was staring into spaces a lot more. Not to mention he seemed to be always writing something in the notebook he always had with him more. The same notebook that he never could understand since it was written in English and some other language. Once he had managed to peeked on a page that was written in English before Ryuuichi had promptly slammed the book closed, a little shaken at his sudden appearance behind him.

He saw something about curses or whatever he didn't managed to make out. His brother tend to write things more in English, rather than Japanese. And he would sometimes slipped into speaking English or the other two language whenever he wasn't paying attention. He had always wanted to understand whatever his brother was writing but most of the English written context were mostly poems while the rest was either in Italian or French or some other language that Yuuichi doesn't knows. (Sometimes, he regretted not taking Italian and French classes with his brother.)

Ryuuichi was always the odd one in their family. Despite the fact that they are all Japanese, and perhaps with a little French blood as their parents had said before, Ryuuichi seemed to be very English influenced. If he remembered correctly, there wasn't anyone in their family tree that was that influenced than Ryuuichi.

He decided that he would one day get the answer from his brother, so he kept quiet.

"Yuuichi-kun" The said teen looked towards Kyoko, who called them. She was writing something down in a memo. "When is your and your brother's birthday?" He blinking in surprise, wondering how should he explain. "6, 7 October" Yuuichi said.

"Hahi?"

Yuuichi chuckled at their confused expression and enlightened them. "Ryuu was born before the midnight on 6 while I was born after midnight, which was already 7"

Kyoko brighten up. "So you two are October babies as well!" He raised an eyebrow. "As well?"

She nodded, smiling brightly. "Tsuna-kun and Reborn-kun are October babies! Tsuna-kun's 14 while Reborn-kun's 13. Basically a week after both of you!"

Yuuichi blinked again. He did not expect that.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

On the way out of the hospital to the school, Ryuuichi bumped into a certain blonde boss. "Ryuuichi? What are you doing here?" Dino asked. He didn't know that Ryuuichi was in the hospital. He wondered if the teen was injured as he scanned him from head to toe. He flushed a little when Ryuuichi chuckled at his action.

"Don't worry, I'm not hurt or anything. I was just bringing Yuuichi here to help the girls. Is Dino-san going to Namimori Middle?" He briefly wondered what was the girls doing that needed the younger twin's help but had pushed that back. He raised an eyebrow and nodded. "In a few more moments"

Ryuuichi debated a little. Should he rush Dino? But the Cavallone boss will be bringing the swordman who was terribly injured. Though, he wanted to watch Hibari's match with Belphegor. 'Ummm..............' He frowned, before sighing in resignation. He can't trouble Dino and his subordinates after all when he was going to hitch a ride from them. He wondered would there be any recordings on the match. "Well, can I follow you?"

"Hah?"

\----------------------------------------------------------------

"Voi!! Why is this brat here?" Squalo said with a weak voice. Ryuuichi smiled at the long haired man. "Hitching a ride, duh" He smirked in amusement at the slightly pissed of face of the man. He somehow liked messing with Squalo for some reasons. It was really hilarious seeing his reactions when he had sassed him. Not to mention Squalo was injured so he couldn't, and wouldn't cut him into pieces unless he wanted to make his condition even worse.

Dino sighed as the two bickered, more like Squalo's weak attempts on shouting when he was tired and Ryuuichi's replied with witty remarks. He quickly intervened the two by calling out for the youngest. "Ryuuichi-"("Voi!! Don't interrupt us!") "-Are you planning something?"

Ryuuichi blinked at the question and frowned. Was Dino suspecting him from doing something? "How mean. Are you accusing me?" He almost lost it when Dino panicked as the Cavallone boss quickly replied. "Shit- No! Of course not!" He fake pouted, tried and probably failed. (Nope. He succeed. He just didn't see the blush on Dino's face because it was too dark)

He huffed and turned away from Dino, acting as if he was sulking. "Hmph! I'm not going to talk to meanie-Dino!" Really, he was going to burst out laughing if he continue this act any longer. He could literally imagine the bewildered face of the blonde's. "Wha- Ryuuichi! I'm not- I- Ugh!!!"

Yep, he ended up laughing out loud. His whole body shook in as he hiccupped the laughters out. Dino gasped when he realized that he was played on. "Ryuuichi!" Squalo, who was seating in between them, had a disgusted face on. "Stop bloody flirting with me in the center dammit!!"

Ryuuichi smirked at Squalo. "Arara~? Is Sharky jealous~?" The man gagged before shouting at him. "Voi!! Stop calling me sharky!! And like hell I would be jealous of this blonde _idiota_!!" Ryuuichi continued to tease him, as Romario and the other two laughed.

Dino groaned tiredly. He never knew that the usually matured and mysterious teen, the same exact teen that had yelled at him a day ago, was this playful. He's practically a tease! He wondered if he was possessed or had to much sugar.

"Boss, we're here" Romario suddenly said, breaking the said boss out of his thoughts. He got out of the car and let his subordinates help the long haired man out, carefully not to injure him any further. He saw Ryuuichi stepping out of the car too, but his playful demeanor had disappeared as the usual facade of the teen's was seen.

They walked to where Reborn and the others were held at, and was forced to get into the infrared surroundings. Ryuuichi stepped stood close to where Dino was, his left hand slipped into his pocket and eyes on the large screen in front of them. It was currently showing the fight between Yamamoto and Gokudera with Mammon and Belphegor, Chrome chained and in the custody of the latter two.

Ryuuichi could feel the tension from Chikusa and Ken as they watched the match, but said nothing. He wasn't worried much about them, they would be ok for all he knows. And then, the screen switched to the match between Xanxus and Tsuna. Tsuna was in his Hyper Dying Will Mode as he punched Xanxus, whose scar had appeared. The brunette had flew further away from the man when he had promptly stopped his punch and had tried to perform Zero Point Breakthrough: Revised when Xanxus shot him with his guns, but had to dodge the attack.

"If Tsuna took on Xanxus's flame, he wouldn't be able to absorb it all, and he would blow up." Reborn explained. Basically, Xanxus's flame had overpowered Tsuna's at the moment. Xanxus shot the ground with his gun and had flew up towards Tsuna, who merely closed his eyes.

He opened them and grabbed Xanxus hands when the man threw away his gun, his flame on his forehead flickering. Ryuuichi smiled. Tsuna wasn't trying to take on Xanxus's flame, nor trying to perform Zero Point Breakthrough: Revised. He was doing something else. The two gritted their teeth and had hard grips on each other's hand. Their hand suddenly glowed in orange before it got brighter, temporary blinding everything.

Ryuuichi winced at the bright light from the screen, squinting his eyes a little. When the light faded, smoke surrounded the whole area. Colonello had noticed a person from the smoke, which was Xanxus. All of them gasped a little too soon. Reborn told them not to panic and take a look at his hands, which was frozen.

"This phenomenon..... It couldn't be... It's the same as  _that time_!" Squalo said, disbelieved at what he saw.

Tsuna was looking at his own hands that was smoking, a little surprised at what had happened. Reborn smiled, finally getting on what had happened. "I see. This is probably the Zero Point Breakthrough created by Vongola the first" A move made by Vongola Primo.

"The opposite state of the Dying Will is also the opposite of the Dying Will Flame" Reborn explained. In another words, the opposite of flame, frost. Though, a special one that managed to seal Xanxus's flame. It's a technique existed to seal away the Dying Will Flame.

Xanxus didn't believe it. He didn't want to. He would not accept it. He would never!

And then, the screen just had to switch to Gokudera and Yamamoto's. Ryuuichi groaned inwardly and slumped a little. He already knew that Ryohei would appear, in a very, very flashy way, and helped them.

True to it, the gymnasium where Gokudera, Yamamoto, Chrome and their opponent was, had promptly being blown up, blasted and crumpled into dust, literally, by a punch. One, single punch. And he had also destroyed the cameras in the process. How amazing is that?

The screen than switched back to Tsuna and Xanxus. (Ryuuichi couldn't understand what was with all the switching here and there)

The technique Tsuna had used was undoubtedly useful, but it was the opposite of the symbol of Vongola, which was Dying Will Flame. The one who created it was really a wise one, to have predicted the dark future of Vongola. As expected of the Vongola Intuition.

Ryuuichi scoffed. Xanxus was in denial. He himself had experienced Zero Point Breakthrough firsthand, yet he didn't wanted to admit the move Tsuna had done on him wasn't it. Man, the scars he had were the solid proof. He watched with deadpanned expression when Xanxus literally broke the frost by slamming it onto his knee and managed to unseal his flames from the frost, not fully though.

'I so did not want to hear Xanxus exclamation on his name, and his rightful liberties to be the Tenth of Vongola.....'

Xanxus had ran forward towards the brunette, whose flame flickered again. Tsuna rushed towards the man and punched him in the stomach, bringing him to his knees, and froze Xanxus fully. "Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition" Squalo shouted for him to stop, but it was a futile attempt.

Tsuna was confounded, why did Xanxus did all these? What had happened to make him do such things? He never knew.

Xanxus's half Sky ring had broke off from the chain and dropped onto Tsuna's hand.

Ryuuichi peered at Squalo, who demanded for them to release him, shouting cusses. "It's not over yet" He said, making everyone turn to him, confused. Reborn frowned. Would there be anything more? It was over, Xanxus had lost. What did Ryuuichi meant?

He questions were answered when Lussuria and Leviathan had appeared. Ryuuichi was unfazed when the two attacked Tsuna while the other's shouted for the brunette who was kneeling, tired after all that fighting, to stand up. Tsuna knew that the two was illusions cast by Mammon, seeing that he paid no heed to them.

"Good work seeing through that. But you don't even have the strength left to crawl" Mammon appeared. Ryuuichi was right. It wasn't over yet.

Mammon took out the six Vongola rings. The Guardians' rings. "Do you know why they store the rings split apart, and why they're only given to proper successors of Vongola? That's because the rings themselves have a hidden power." Mammon said. "They say when the Ninth's Zero Point Breakthrough was defrosted, there were seven small burn marks on the floor. No one knows for sure who did it, but it's enough to come up with a theory"

The rings glowed, along with the sky ring and flames of red, blue, yellow, purple, indigo, green and orange emitted. Mammon brought those flaming rings towards the frozen Xanxus, and the ice slowly defrosted.

"That's not all. When the seven complete Vongola Rings are handed down, they say a great power is granted to the new blood of Vongola"

'Though, that new blood of Vongola aren't you guys, Varia'

Belphegor had snatched the Sky Ring out of Tsuna's hand with his knife, walked towards Xanxus. Mammon placed the rest of the rings onto the chain that holds the rings. "Vongola's greatest treasure, passed down through time. Give the young blood of Vongola a great power!" Belphegor slid the Sky Ring onto the man's right, middle finger.

The ring immediately glowed brightly along with the other rings on the chain. Tsuna no longer have the strength to stop Xanxus, or the other Varia. A bright light surrounded Xanxus, as he felt the power surged through his being. "Power! An unending power is overflowing! This is the proof of being the successor to Vongola! Finally, finally! It's coming true! Now I can become Vongola Tenth!"

'Don't celebrate it so early, Xanxus...'

Suddenly, he felt something, the bright orange light slowly faded away as he fell onto his knees again. The power was too much for him that he collapsed again. "The rings.." Tsuna clenched his hands. "Xanxus... They rejected Xanxus.."

Finally, everything was as clear as the sky to him. He finally knew what Ninth was trying to tell him. 'Ninth... Xanxus..' Mammon turned to him. "You know something. What do you mean, 'The rings rejected him'?"

Xanxus gritted his teeth as he tried to push himself up, shaking at the process of doing so. "I bet you feel good about yourself. That's right. Ninth and I aren't real family!"

Ryuuichi frowned. 'Even though you and Ninth aren't family by blood, but anyone can see he treats you like his own biological son, like his own family, Xanxus...' He glanced side way at Squalo, who spoke, before looking back at the screen. The Cervello switched on the microphone, letting almost everyone there listened to what the sword man said.

"The regret, and the grudge cause by the betrayal. I know" Xanxus was a stubborn man for sure. He kept thinking that no ones understand him when there are people who understands him. Squalo is one of them. '.... I'm a hypocrite, aren't I?' Ryuuichi mentally scoffed at himself. Xanxus demanded for Squalo to tell him, what does he understand about him.

"That day, when you were frozen by the Ninth, I was still conscious. I heard. That time, you.. After that, I did research on you. You were born into a working-class neighborhood in Italy and had power over flames since birth. It was all made possible by poverty. Your mother was entrapped by the delusion that you were born from Vongola Ninth. And your mother brought you, who knew nothing about it, to the Ninth.

"You believed the Ninth's words and never doubted them. And soon, you were adopted by the Ninth and made it big as the Ninth's son. You grew up to be a man who had the dignity and skill to become worthy to succeed the Ninth. However, you must have found out the truth at some point"

Ryuuichi remembered that Xanxus had found it out when he looked through Timoteo's diary, or journal for all he knew. He immediately felt the betrayal from the old man. Ryuuichi wondered if it really was a betrayal. It's true that Ninth was at fault to not tell Xanxus about it in the first place, but was it betrayal? He couldn't understand. He hadn't really been through these kinds of situation personally, and he basically doesn't care nor feel about anything.

"Wasn't the reason that the Ninth didn't kill you, even after being betrayed, was that he wanted to accept you to the very end? The Ninth acknowledged you more than anyone else ever had." What Tsuna had said hit Xanxus. "Ninth thought of you as his real child." So true, yet Xanxus didn't want it. He doesn't what that kind voluntary love. He wanted the position as a Vongola boss.

'Is that really what you wanted?'

Ryuuichi frowned again when he saw Hibari. The said prefect was definitely injured alright, seeing that he was limping. He took out his phone and called Yuuichi as Mammon revealed that their team was out to kill those who have relations with Tsuna and the others.

After the third ring, Yuuichi finally received it. " _Hello?_ "

"Yuu? How's everything over there?"

" _Everything's fine over here. What's going on there? Sounded a bit noisy_ "

"Nothing much. It'll be over soon so see you later. Oh and be careful" Yuuichi said yes before he hung up. The Cervello had disqualified the Varia for outside inferences and proceed to release the ones from the spectator area, but the infrared lasers weren't taken down as Mammon had tempered with it earlier. They couldn't do anything from the inside either as it will blast it back to them.

Ryuuichi wasn't that concerned though. After all, it would still be Varia's lost. "How confident..." He said nonchalantly. He could feel Reborn's gaze along with the Cavallone boss's, but he paid no heed to it. "We shall see who will be the one who wins" He crossed his arms and leaned against a foot.

Three members of the Varia came. The one in the middle gave his report as the other two collapsed. "Reporting: The entire Varia squad except us, has been defeated. He was too strong! A man with the strength of a demon has headed this way"

A shout of "Violent Snake Fierce Domination!" was heard before the three was hit by a giant, chained metal ball, creating a wind whirl. Ryuuichi smirked at the sudden appearance of a certain man.

"Don't get me wrong, Vongola. I didn't come to save you. I came to thank you" How flashy, Lanchia, the strongest man in the Northern Italy. Ryuuichi rolled his eyes at Ken. Seriously, that teen was so slow that he didn't realized that Lanchia was very strong. Now, Lanchia doesn't have any hesitation and can fight with his own will.

He smiled, feeling a little envy towards Tsuna as Yamamoto and the others came together as one and surrounded Varia, and protecting Tsuna. A wonderful team, indeed.

All in all, Tsuna won. They all did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter for Varia Arc. The next arc will begin on chapter 17. The next chapter is a normal one.. But a bit related to the Future Arc. In another words, the next chapter is the prologue for the Future Arc.
> 
> I got very VERY lazy at the last part. There were so many talking here and there I just..
> 
> Fun Fact = Ryuuichi ate something very sweet before he went to watch the Sky Ring Battle.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	16. Birth and Death

_"Xxx. What is life to you?"_

_".... A long and tired walk...."_

_"So where are you now?"_

_"Nowhere." 'Because I've stopped halfway through all these years...'_

\---------------------------------------------------------

The annoying ringing of the alarm resonated through the room. A certain teen under the thick duvets shuffled, trying to ignore the loud ringing to go back to sleep. Though, it was a futile attempt because his mind was getting clearer and clearer as seconds ticked by. He groaned loudly, annoyed, and threw off the duvet. He stalked towards the digital alarm beside a box clock by the computer table slash study table opposite of his bed and promptly slammed the alarm off.

'6.30...'

He yawned loudly before and stretched, satisfied at the sound of bone cracking. He proceeded to his wardrobe and got his uniform out, slowly walking to the bathroom. When he got back, he tied his hair up and double checked his books for the day. He grabbed his backpack and walked down to the dining room.

"Good morning..." He place his backpack beside the door frame and sat on his usual spot. Sakura, Kei and surprisingly Yuuichi who doesn't have any morning practices, greeted him back. "Good Morning, Ryuu(-kun)" He raised an eyebrow at them. They sounded very, very suspicious. His parent could at least hide it a little but his brother, who was grinning his heads off, couldn't.

"Ryuu-kun~ Do you know what day is today?" He frowned at his mother. Did she somehow knocked her head on something? Sakura usually have good memories. "... Wednesday..?" He answered slowly as he bit into the bread.

"That's not what your mother meant, silly" Kei chuckled, making him frown harder. He wondered if he was forgetting something. Yuuichi was snickering at him and winced a little when Ryuuichi kicked his shin under the table. Seriously, what was going on-. Something hit him as he widen his eyes slightly.

"Happy Birthday, Ryuu(-kun)!" He awkwardly thanked them as they all laughed at him. Really, he wasn't that used to people congratulating him on something, and probably never will. He never really cared much about his birthday, only Yuuichi's, his parents and a few others. Besides, it was practically his 'death' anniversary too. How funny.

Yuuichi thrust out his hand curled into a fist, a large smile plastered. If he didn't say anything, he would have thought that he wanted a fist bump or something. "Here! A gift!" He blinked owlishly and held out his hand, a black half ring dropped onto his hand. His eyes widen as he looked closer at the ring. It wasn't a Vongola Ring for sure. He had never seen this ring in the anime or manga before.

It looked like the half Vongola Rings, but there's nothing for the center. There should be something in the gap because of how it was made. He could only barely make out a shape on the complicated design too. Though, there was writings on it, but he couldn't understand it because half of the letters were cut off.

After a while staring at the ring and trying to remember if there was any ring like this, he slowly nodded at his younger brother. "Thanks. I love it" He smiled, rubbing the ring slightly. Yuuichi laughed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "To be honest.. I found this ring in the mail the other day. It doesn't fit my fingers nor can I wear it because of basketball.. And your birthday was coming up and I couldn't figure out what to give you.. So..."

Ryuuichi was surprised. He experimentally wore the ring on his right middle finger and it fitted perfectly. It doesn't make any sense at all. His and Yuuichi's finger size should be the same. And the mail box? Why does this seem so familiar? He felt deja vu running up his skin.

"I appreciate it, really" He gave an ensuring smile, that made his brother grin brighter. "And Mother? Father? Could you please stop trembling? The drinks are going to spill" True to what he had said, his glass of water almost spilled if not for him grabbing it just in time.

Sakura and Kei was busy controlling their squeals as they watched their sons interact. Seriously, what was with all the bright, sparkly lights and flowers that popped out of nowhere behind the twins. And really, were they trying to kill them?

Kei was the first one to stop and faked a cough, slightly embarrassed. "A-anyway, this is from your mother and I" He lifted up a large box and handed to the eldest son of theirs'. He watched in slight amusement when Ryuuichi gingerly took it with gentle hands. He placed the box on his lap, before looking up at his parents. "Thank you very much" He lightly bowed. Sakura giggled at his awkward gestures. Her son could never shake off the awkwardness he would develop whenever these kind of things happens.

"Well? Go on. Open it!"

Ryuuichi hesitated at first, but seeing the approving glances, he carefully pull off the ribbon and opened it. His eyes widen so large that it would probably drop out of the sockets if someone smack him behind his head. Yuuichi beside him whistled, amazed at the gift.

Alright, something's seriously wrong with the people in this world. Like, which parents, or who in the right mind would actually gift someone  _this_? Ok maybe if you're a fighter or in mafia or whatever, but a civilian? (As if he's a civilian...) What?

"Umm.. A gun?" Kei nodded, and much to his horror, happily. "Yep!" Sakura's expression turned into a concern one. "You don't like it?" She just had to get the puppy eyes out. Ryuuichi wondered what's with the people around him, always throwing a puppy eyes here and there.

"That's not- I mean, I love it. But- Like- How the hell did you get this? A  _ **gun**_  to be exact.  ** _How?! Why?!_** " He stumbled through his words. His parents laughed a little. "We have our ways, Ryuu-kun. Besides, it has been quite dangerous these days, you can never be too careful. Oh and it's licensed"

Yuuichi's eyes literally sparkled. "So I'll get a gun too?!" Ryuuichi gave his brother a disbelieved look and wondered who in the sane mine would want a gun as a gift. 'You know what? I don't give a shit anymore' He gave up. There's no point in trying to be logical when you're literally living in a world where you use flames to fight and the existences of strongest infants and all. No point at all.

"You'll know it tomorrow~"

Yuuichi pouted but said nothing. He doesn't really care what will he be getting anyway. Everything given to him are considered precious stuffs after all.

Ryuuichi closed back the box and finished his breakfast quickly, seeing that they will be late for school. "Right. Yuu, if you don't hurry, we'll be late" He said after chugging down the water, pondering what do he do with the gun. Til the last minute, he figured that it's better to keep it with him. Or maybe not.

He and Yuuichi bade their parents a see you and went out, walking to school. The gun was in it's holster, tied around his torso, inside his uniform.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sighed in relief when he walked pass the disciplinary committee members without any of them stopping him. There was a spot check today, which is exactly why he couldn't put the gun in his backpack. Maybe being called a 'demon' and being Hibari's friend(?) really helps sometimes.

Not.

He had changed into his indoor shoes by the lockers and was about to walk to class when Hibari popped out of nowhere out of the sudden, scaring the living shit out of him. His clutched his backpack that was slung by his side in front of him, creating a barrier between the prefect and him just in case Hibari's going to do something. His back slammed onto the locker with a loud bang, making students stared at him, puzzled. Though they quickly walked away when they saw it was Hibari.

"G-good Morning, senpai. Please don't do that again" He felt that something was off about the prefect. He just stared at him for almost two, full minutes, which felt like hours to him. He glanced towards where Yuuichi should be, but his brother was nowhere to be found. 'Traitor!!!'

He turned back to Hibari and almost yelped curses when something was placed on his head. He peered up and reached for it with his hand. It was  _quite_  fluffy. When he took it off his head and properly looked at it, his jaw dropped. It was a larger version of Hibird plushy. Back at his mind, he briefly wondered how Hibari managed to find it. He looked up towards the prefect again and gave him a questioning look.

Hibari shrugged a little, placing another Hibird plushy onto his head (Only, this one is yellowish green, probably for Yuuichi.) and grunted a Happy Birthday to him. He stood there, stunned as Hibari swiftly walked away. He managed to get his gears running in his head and quickly shouted a thanks to the prefect.

He stared at the plushies in his hands. This was the third time that he was surprised to the point of no return. He really had never expected it. The ring, the gun and the plushies. Something tells him that there will be more later. He hoped not.

Now, what to do with these...

\------------------------------------------------------------------

It was quite a day for Ryuuichi, and a great one for Yuuichi. He had been laughing since Ryuuichi came into the classroom with to large plushies, looking so out of place with them. (Which resulted him pelted by one of the plushies. Not like it hurts anyway) Then, for some reason, things have being falling onto his brother. For example, during their fourth period and when they were walking to the West side of their school building where their next class would be, confetti papers dropped out of nowhere and onto Ryuuichi's head.

After that, it was glitter after P.E (Which had Ryuuichi shrieking in rage because apparently, he hate glitter) which caused him to have shower. Yuuichi almost killed himself because of laughing when he saw his brother frantically shake the glitter off his head like a dog shaking off water. Next was small balloons of various colours raining down from his locker. That wasn't really funny because they had to clean up the place when the balloons suddenly popped and colours splattered onto the ground. But it was quite a sight seeing his brother jumping a few feet away from his locker when the first one popped with wide eyes.

He briefly wondered if someone was bullying his brother, though it was quite impossible. No one would dare to even lift a finger against his brother unless they wanted a death wish (According to the students that are afraid of Ryuuichi) and the things that fell onto Ryuuichi wasn't really life threatening.

His questions were answered when Yamamoto popped out of nowhere and dragged them to his father's restaurant, TakeSushi.

"Yamamoto.... What are you guys planning?" It was quite a surprise that Ryuuichi haven't figure out what was going on. The said teen laughed and grinned happily, arms crossed behind his head.

"You'll see~ You'll see~"

When they arrived, Yamamoto went in first, his taller frame blocking their view. Party poppers suddenly went off after Yamamoto moved away. "Happy Birthday, Ryuuichi(-kun), Yuuichi(-kun)!!!" The twins' eyes were as wide as saucers. Even Yuuichi's. He had somewhat expected this, but to see the amount of people? No.

The whole restaurant were packed with Ryuuichi's and Yuuichi's friends! Heck, even Hibari was there!

Ryuuichi rubbed his temple. So this is why things have been falling on him. He couldn't deny the fact that he was taken aback. He had never told them their birthday before, nor had they asked him. He gave his brother a questioning look, which Yuuichi shrugged at him, but a grin was there on his face. He sighed and shook his head. His lips slowly tugged upwards.

The twins exchanged a look and turned towards their friends. "Thanks!!"

\---------------------------------------------------------------

"So, could any of you tell me who was the one responsible for all the fallen stuffs on me today?" Ryuuichi asked as everyone froze. He was chattering with Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Dino while his brother was horsing around with his Basketball teammates (Yamamoto and Ryohei had somewhat told them). They all averted their eyes from his, even Yamamoto.

He raised an eyebrow. "What? It's not like I'll get angry. But a punch or two would be satisfying" Ok, the last part had their faces morphed into something as if they had personally met Satan. A small infant suddenly jumped onto his head and sat there, a small hand knocked his head not so lightly.

"I would like to see you try, Ryuuichi" The said teen sighed, he should have known. "Why, Reborn? Why the glitter?" He could swore he felt the smirk that the Arcobaleno was sporting even when he couldn't see it. "Because it's hilarious"

Reborn had found out that Kyoko and Haru was planning a party for the twins and had joined them. Fuuta had told them to leave out the glitters because it was Ryuuichi's Fifth hated things. And then, a mischievous idea popped in his mind. Even when he had to make a lot of preparations, the sight was really funny and he had gained blackmail materials. So worth the trouble.

His smirk widen when he heard another sigh from the teen as he made himself comfortable of his head.

Dino quickly interrupted Ryuuichi when the teen opened his mouth, wanting to retort something at the hitman. "Ryuuichi! Yuuichi! Let's open your presents, ok?" He pushed the twins to the table where their presents are, which was quite a lot.

They sweated at the amount and exchanged a look. "Ryuu/Yuu, you open your's first" They spoke at the same time and in total unison. Silence immediately took it's place before strings of laughters replaced it. The twins themselves were laughing. "No seriously, Yuu, you open your's first" Yuuichi shrugged and went with it. He first opened the gift from Tsuna and Gokudera, who apparently had shared the cost. They had gave him a headphone from a very expensive brand. He had seen the price of it before and almost puked blood.

Of course, he tried to negotiate with them to give him something cheaper because, damn, he could actually buy a pair of basketball shoes, but they insisted on him having it. They said that it was actually quite cheap because they had brought it online.

Next was Yamamoto's, which he had gave him a pair of dark blue wrist band, saying that he would need it for his games. Perhaps the baseball star had noticed that his left wrist was acting up a little. Ryohei gave him pair of boxing gloves, yelling something about him joining the boxing club, which had the older teen arguing with his basketball teammates. The girls gave him a hand-made knitted muffler.

He hadn't really expect that Dino, whom he wasn't even close with, gave him a dagger. There's gems or crystal or something that he couldn't rectify but it was shining, on the handle. He wasn't complaining though, heck he even liked it. Plus, there was a bonus seen of his brother roasting Dino for giving him a weapon. The strange infant gave him a hat, for some reason. Perhaps the infant have hat fetish.

Last, was his teammates. For the first time of the day, he genuinely felt touched. They had presented him a basketball. One would think that it's just a basketball, but there were writings on it. Signature from everyone in the club, as they all welcomed him once again to the club. Let's just say, he went to crybaby mode from there on.

Ryuuichi smiled fondly at his brother and his teammates as they tried to calm the crying teen down. He was glad that Yuuichi have so many good friends. They are like a one big family, giving comfort and warmth to each other. Tsuna and the others are one too. He felt a twinge of envy but quickly pushed it away. "Ryuu, it's your turn!" He blinked as Yamamoto gave him a nudge on the shoulder.

He gingerly picked one random one from the table. It was from Ryohei. He chuckled when he received a pair of boxing gloves, the exact same one with his brother. He thanked the older teen, and went to another one, which was a pair of fingerless gloves. It was from Yuuichi's teammates. He gave them a questioning look, as he never had thought that they would give him something.

The captain smiled sheepishly and said. "Well, you did helped us with the training at some point..." (Ryohei then argued with the fellow sportman because, gloves) He smiled and thanked them too.

Dino then eagerly thrust his present for him into his arms, which was quite heavy. It figures since it was a retractable metal bo staff. He sweated. It was quite heavy and it was taller than him. Nevertheless, he was grateful. The girls gave him a muffler too, which he was internally squealing at the fluffiness. Reborn, from his head, patted him for his attention. The hitman jumped down from his head and took out a metal bow with sharp blades at the end. Again, a very long weapon. Seriously, what's with these mafia men and their obsession with weapons?

Gokudera was next.

"W-well, you did said that you like authentic stuffs.. So.." He took out a sliver pocket watch with a spiral flower engraved on the cover. He gently took it from the bomber's hand and looked at it with observant eyes. When he flipped it open, there's words engraved under the cover. ' _Per Sempre, Il Mio Fratello_ ' He couldn't suppress the large grin that stretched on his lips and he gave the bomber a tight hug. " _Grazie, fratello_ "

Yamamoto then took away his attention after he had let go an almost crying Gokudera, much to the latter's chagrin. The baseball star had given him 10 Rubik's Cubes, starting from the 2 by 2 til 10 by 10 and a pentagon one. He his jaw dropped as he frantically asked Yamamoto why so many. One already cost a lot but there was 10? The teen grinned at him. "Don't worry~! They were all on sale so it was practically very cheap. 'Sides, I saw you eyeballing them before" He didn't blush at the last statement. Nope, he didn't.

"U-umm.."

Tsuna called out for him. He blinked at the brunette and tilted his head. He could see Tsuna hesitating at some point. He smiled and stretched out his hand towards the brunette. Tsuna blinked owlish. "Whatever you give me, I'll treasure it." He saw the gentle, caring look in the darker brown orbs, and slowly, dropped a half ring onto the teen's outstretched hand.

He panicked a little when Ryuuichi's eyes widen, no doubt in surprise. He wanted to take back the gift and change it but was a bit too late. Ryuuichi smirked at him. Indeed he was surprised, because it was exactly the other half of the ring Yuuichi had given him. Though, the rings might be planned. "Let me guess, in the mail box a few days ago?" He laughed out loud when the brunette stuttered. "H-how did you know?"

He gave him a smile and gave the brunette a hug. "I just do. Thank you, Tsuna" He grin got larger when he felt arms around his back.

And then, the others decided to join. Yamamoto tackled them to the ground, as Gokudera tried to stop the baseball star, only to be pulled onto the pile too. Ryohei shouted out an extreme and jumped on top of them, followed by Yuuichi. Tsuna and Ryuuichi who were underneath all of them huffed out at the weight. Ryuuichi tried to not get the brunette crushed with great effort as he shouted for them all to get off.

Even if it was very heavy and all, he liked it. They had made him feel like one of them, which was quite surprising. It felt like they would always be with him. He love it. He hoped that these moments will last, and will never change.

\-------------------------------------------------------

"Happy Birthday, Yuu" He gently placed a box on the latter's bed as he sat down beside him. He had a towel around his neck as water dripped down from his wet hair. His brother looked up from his phone and towards the digital clock in his room. "Wha-" It was 12.01. He whistled, slightly amazed.

"Wow. Great timing." Ryuuichi laughed at that. True, it was a great timing. Yuuichi placed his phone aside, and took up the box, placing it on his lap. "Can I open it?" "Of course"

And he did, he opened it with care and had the shock of his life. It was a pair of white and grey basketball shoe. He had been eyeing it for a long time but it was too expensive. He gave his brother a bewildered look as he try to comprehend a sentence. "I- Wha- This- The heck-!?"

Ryuuichi laughed again. "You have been wanting this, no? I hope you like it"

"Like it? I love it! But the price-!" He shook his head, smiling. "Don't worry about it." He sat properly and crossed his legs, facing his brother. He took his hands and intertwined them. "Yuuichi, I hope that when you wear this shoes, you'll remember that I will always be with you, even if you are too far away. I hope, wish and pray that you will keep moving on forward no matter what will happen." He leaned in and their forehead met.

"I'm sorry for hiding things from you, and never told you about it.. I'm sorry that I let you feel left behind..."

Yuuichi was tearing up for the second time of the day. "I-.. You... Knew?" 'That I knew you're hiding something?' Ryuuichi smiled softly, a bit apologetic and guilty.

"Yes. I noticed. I saw the longing look, and the want to know the truth. It's something I knew very well after all...But, I couldn't say... Not now.." His brother frowned bitterly. "Ne, Yuuichi.... Can you wait? At least, until I settle a few things and find my answers.." Yuuichi sniffed. He nodded. He faked a pout as he tried to stop the tears. "B-but you have to promise me to let me see what you write in the book when the time comes. Oh and let me punch you once"

Ryuuichi winced at the last one but said nothing. He was pulled into a hug by his brother. He smiled and wrapped his own arms around the slightly shaking frame, treading his fingers into Yuuichi's hair as he stroked him. "Thank you. For everything, and for being born" 'I'm happy to be here with you..'

'Thank you for being born too, Ryuu-nii'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the beginning of the Future Arc, which is the Fourth arc.
> 
> The half rings given to Ryuuichi, which is a complete one now, have something to do with him. Why? Will be revealed in probably after the Future Final Battle Arc... Probably.. How you imagine the ring, is up to you. Though, please note that the center piece of the ring is currently missing.
> 
> This chapter is more to everyone's interaction? Well, it's somehow very Ryuu/Yuu-centric... I don't know.
> 
> 'Per Sempre, Il Mio Fratello' = Forever, My Brother [I think] 
> 
> Fun Fact 1= Yuuichi recieved Metal Scythe from his parents the next day. Seriously, please don't ask where did they get it. It looks like a Death God's Scythe according to Ryuuichi. The older twin wasn't mused by the fact that his brother was given weapons for his birthday, though said nothing because Yuuichi was pleased. Very pleased.
> 
> Fun Fact 2= Apparently, someone from their school had found out about the twins birthday the next day and they had to run away from girls and a few boys the whole day.
> 
> Fun Fact 3= Ryuuichi slept with Yuuichi that night.
> 
> I had trouble on figuring out what weapon should Yuuichi use but, weapons with blades.
> 
> Fun Fact 4= Ryuuichi is a natural weapon user. So technically, if you throw him any weapon except for boomerang, he probably could use it after seeing how to once.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	17. Future

\--------------------- **9 Years Into The Future** \-------------------

"Shoichi" The said man turned around and saw a familiar man in black suit with grey button down shirt and a black tie while holding two metal cases, one black one white, walking towards him. He was about on his way to his laboratory from Tsuna's office when Ryuuichi had stopped him. He blinked, wondering what did the man needed. "Ryuuichi-kun?"

Ryuuichi smiled, his right hand stuffed into his pocket while the other made a gesture. "Are you free?" Shoichi nodded. "Great! Could you join me for a drink now?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Shoichi watched the man in slight confusion and a little wary as he sipped on his ice coffee. It wasn't always that Ryuuichi would ask him to accompany him during his break and if he remembered correctly, he should be in France right now.

Ryuuichi chuckled. He could clearly see the puzzled look in his eyes. Though, it was as expected. He wasn't exactly on who would just randomly ask people to join him for a meal or whatsoever. Not to mention he wasn't exactly very free. "I'm hurt. Can't I have a drink with my friend?" He faked a pout before laughing out loud when Shoichi almost spitted out his drink and choked. "W-wha-!!"

Ryuuichi leaned forwards and elbows were placed onto the table, head propped up by his intertwined hands, two rings glinted from his right hand. "Calm down" He snickered as Shoichi glared at him, realizing that he was being played, though there wasn't any heat in it. His smile changed into the familiar one. The smile that screams 'I know something you don't know'.

"Say, what were you discussing with Tsuna and Kyouya just now?"

Shoichi sputtered. "W-w-what? Y-you know, t-the usual t-things.." He glanced away from the dark brown orbs as he laughed nervously. He gulped when he saw those eyes narrowed a little. Cold sweat appeared as his stomach started to ache, but he suppress it. The pain doubled when the man smirked and the tone of his voice made him shiver in fear. "Oh, really? I thought that you guys were talking about bringing the Vongola Rings and the Tenth Generation of Vongola from the past to here, the future of the past"

His eyes widen. How did the man knew about it? He, Tsuna and Hibari had just only finished discussing about it, and no one should know about it. "H-h-how?!"

The man chuckled at the bewildered face. "I just do. And Shoichi, I know a lot more than what you can imagine" His smile turned somewhat grim. 'And things that will happen in 10 more months...'

"Anyway, I don't have much time. I need you to bring the past me to the future after a day or two you bring the past Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera, and the girls and children here. Is that alright?"

Shoichi blinked, wondering what will happen and what was the man planning. Nevertheless, he nodded. After all these years knowing Ryuuichi, he knew not to question whatever he was doing because no matter how he ask, there won't be any answers. It would always be 'You'll know one day'. Though, "But Tsunayoshi-kun didn't say anything about needing anyone other than the CEDEF's member, Basil-kun and the Guardians of the Vongola Rings..."

"Well, I believed that even if you didn't bring the past me here, I'm sure that I'll come here myself. So, it might be best to time the arrival of the past me into an appropriate one. 'Sides, there's something I need to do.. The past me, I mean"

Ryuuichi looked at his watch before hurriedly finished his tea. Not giving Shoichi any chance to say anything, he spoke again. "I need to go. But before that..." He placed the white metal case he was carrying onto the table, and pushed it towards Shoichi. "Please give the things inside to the past me when you met him." He tapped the back of the handle twice, silently telling him the code to the case. "He will know what to do" He placed a few notes onto the table as he stood up with the black case in hand.

"I apologize for taking up your time, but I seriously need to go now. Order anything you want. This one is on me" He walked away, smiling in anticipation.

"Ryuuichi-kun!" He stopped his track and turned around. He saw Shoichi, who was standing up, looking concerned. He gave the man a nod before walking out of the cafe.

'Let's run towards the answer, shall we?'

\---------------------------- **Present/Past** \-----------------------------------

Since their birthday, Ryuuichi had being wondering what was the ring for. It certainly isn't a normal one for all he knows. Ever since the day he had received the ring and had completed it other than the the empty center, he felt that something inside him was sealed. No. The seal was there since way before he had the ring, it's just that he didn't realize it.

He reached into his shirt and pulled out the ring, chained to his neck. There's something about the ring that made him a little unsettled. The ring glinted under the sun. He sighed, knowing that he probably won't know until he go to the future, which probably wouldn't happen until Tsuna and his two best friends are in the future, if he hadn't change, that is. He tucked the ring back into his shirt, feeling the cold metal on his skin.

A yawn erupted from his mouth as his hand automatically reached above to cover it. Perhaps he shouldn't have slept for 11 hours straight. Then again, it's not like there's anyone to wake him up during weekends. Ryuuichi and Yuuichi's parents had went back to work last week, and Yuuichi had gone to Kyoto for training camp yesterday for about two weeks or less, give or take. Thus, he's alone, again.

Really, it wasn't like he wasn't used to being alone, but the house felt a bit empty. Maybe he was too used to Yuuichi's company.

He walked aimlessly around the neighborhood, not knowing what to do. He was well aware that he had being holed up in his house for a bit too long and decided to get out for fresh air. His usual black backpack was behind him as he hummed a few songs silently.

After 14 years in this world and he still couldn't really believe that he was in an Anime world. The Katekyo Hitman Reborn world nonetheless. He would still felt that all of these were simply just a dream. A wonderful yet fleeting dream. But the slap on the back he had occasionally asked Yuuichi to do proofed otherwise.

"Hahi? Ryuuichi-san!" His train of thoughts were broken as a familiar voice called his name. He blinked and turned around, to find a panting Haru running up to him. He fully faced her and tilted his head, wondering what did the girl needed. "Haru? Are you alright?" He waited patiently as Haru tried to catch her breath.

"H-have you seen Reborn-chan?" He furrowed his brows. He hadn't see the hitman since two days ago. "No. Why?"

He could see the concern in the girl's eyes as she frowned. Then, it hit him. 'Could it be...?'

"Tsuna-san said that Reborn-chan has being missing since yesterday!" He quickly covered his mouth to prevent Haru from seeing the smirk that he wasn't able to suppress. He faked a gasp. "What? This is bad... Let's search for him some more! I'll look at the other side of the town!" Haru nodded, as they both ran separate ways.

Once he deemed that Haru was out of sight and out of her's, he slowed his run to a stop. His smile came back full blown. The next battle will be starting soon. No, it has already started. After Reborn, it would be Tsuna and Gokudera. And perhaps, after a day or two, it would be Yamamoto, Haru, Kyoko, Lambo and I-Pin. If the future him still have the same mind set, he probably would be poof-ed into the future Yamamoto and the others for some reason. One of it would probably be because he is very interested in watching the battles.

That or some other things that the future him found out and needed the past him, the current him, to settle it. Well, he wouldn't know until he is there.

'Finally... Let's begin, shall we?'

\----------------- **9 Years and 10 Months Into The Future** \---------------

Gokudera cursed himself internally. Cursed himself for being so hard-headed. Cursed himself for being so stubborn. Cursed himself for breaking the promise with Drake. If he hadn't being so stupid, if he hadn't being such an asshole, the baseball idiot probably wouldn't be severely injured. If he had just cooperated with him in the first place, they would probably have won against Gamma.

Pain coursed through his being as the damn pool stick of the older man's slammed onto him, rendering him unconscious.

"Then, this is goodbye. I don't have any intention of handing you over to the White Spell, so.." Green flame flared at the end of Gamma's pool stick, the two unconscious teenagers in front of him. His box animals, Colulu and Widget, were right beside him. "Guardian of Rain. I'll put you to ease too. See ya"

He suddenly felt a strong killer intent behind him and turned around, only to be almost hit by a cloud box animal if not for his. Dust flew about from the impact.

"Let me give you a hint about what you want to know. They came from the past. I'm not a fool though, so I won't be switched" Two man in black suits appeared, one with purple button down shirt while the other had a grey one. A yellow bird flew onto the shoulder of the one who spoke as the box animal returned to it's box. The other simply snickered as he stayed on the sideline behind him, showing no intention on joining the beginning fight between Hibari and Gamma.

The man, Ryuuichi, smirked and mouthed a 'Yo' to Gamma. His eyes reminded Gamma of what  _she_  had, and he hated it. His grip on his pool stick tighten. He demanded for their names, though Hibari had shot it down, Hibird flew away to Ryuuichi.

"There's no need. I'm in a bad mood right now. I'm going to bite you to death right here."

Gamma recalled something. "I remember now. You're the Vongola Cloud Guardian, Hibari Kyouya" What he said did not faze the said man at all, and it irked him a little. The other man who was holding out a hand for the yellow bird irritated him more. Of all people in this world, why does he had to remind him of  _her_? Why now of all times?

Ryuuichi was slightly excited. He had no idea why he was excited every time Hibari's fighting even after experiencing it for almost a thousand times. He should be already used to it. It was the same whenever he had the chance to watch Reborn, Dino, Mukuro and Tsuna's fighting. How strange.

He was also very sure that his younger self would had wanted to watch it. Though, this one is his portion. His younger self would be seeing a lot more after all. It's only to be fair. 'Wow. Getting jealous of my younger self. How wonderful' He rolled his eyes at himself. He should have known better. In this parallel world of his, he wasn't destined to have the same path as the younger him, but he couldn't help but envy him. '... Everything lies on his hands now...'

"Who's to say" Hibari's voice brought him out of his reverie as he placed all his attention on the two.

"I do agree that I don't like entrusting my life to something that I don't really understand. So, did you find out who made this? For what reasons? And how they did it?" Of course, Hibari didn't have any intention to answer him. Gamma himself knew it, but he wasn't taking chances. "And I told you that I am in a bad mood"

Ryuuichi snorted. Yeah, the older man was and still is in a bad mood. He almost got bitten to death by him on their journey here. The bruise that oddly shaped like a cylinder he was probably sporting on his back was the solid proof, still sore. "So, Hibari Kyouya is on Vongola's side. When your allies are hurt, you just can't stand and watch. Right?" He snickered at that. Sure, Hibari is on Vongola's side one way or another. But he surely wasn't annoyed because the younger Guardians of Vongola were hurt. Definitely not.

"That's not it. What I'm angry about is" Hibari took out his purple box weapon and flared his purple flame from the ring. "The disruption of the discipline in Namimori" Gamma flared his own green flame from his ring too, clearly indicating that he would fight the man. "Discipline? Fair enough. I'm just ecstatic that I can increase my record of enemy Guardians defeated. I'm a man too, after all" He inject the flame into his box and two bright yellow fox appeared with electricity sparked. Hibari follow suit and a ball of needle with purple flame rushed towards the two fox.

"Hedgehog? How adorable. What power..." Ryuuichi had to agree. The strength of a box animal depends on how much flame was injected to it and the bright glow from the hedgehog indicated that the flame injected was all but small. "I'm impressed that you can make such a powerful box-movement with that low-grade ring"

"My abilities as a living organism are different from yours" Right. Who calls themselves living organism even though they literally are one? Wait. That's better than calling yourself a homo sapien...

Hibari's ring shattered. The ring wasn't strong enough to withstand the waves of the his flames, unlike the Vongola Rings. 'But they are..'

Hibari slid in another ring, flared it and inject it into another box. His tonfa coated with cloud attribute flame. "Now, let's begin"

Ryuuichi smiled. The ex-prefect was indeed a unique one. In this era, Hibari was probably the only one who uses disposable rings. Even grade A rings couldn't withstand his flame. He suddenly felt his phone vibrated in his pocket and took it out to see a message. As he read it, his grin turned into a smirk.

'Let's start'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna couldn't believe whatever he what seeing. When he and Lal Mirch reached where Gokudera and Yamamoto should be, at the Namimori Shrine, he had not expected to see a hedgehog with a purple spear full with spikes hovering in the air and a man stabbed by it. His eyes widen when he saw two familiar man on the ground.

"You're far too late" He watched in awe and dread as Hibari rushed up towards the man and had promptly 'bitten him to death'. He gasped as the blonde man fell onto the ground with a thud. "I don't need a Lightning attribute ring"

"Well, you should have noticed it when you attack him..." The familiar voice hinted with amusement had the brunette look at the man with uncertain eyes as a glare was shot towards him. Hibari ignored him, and turned towards Tsuna and Lal Mirch who ran up towards them. He smirked and opened his mouth.

"What took you, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" If this was a different situation, Tsuna would surely be trembling in fear. But he was happy, glad and relieved at the sight of the ex-prefect. Then, he remembered something as he looked around. "Umm.."

"Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato are in those woods" He gasped and quickly ran towards where his two best friends were. He shouted their names. An older looking Kusakabe and Ryuuichi was inspecting the tattered teenagers. At the back of his mind, he briefly wondered when did Ryuuichi walked towards them.

"It's fine. Their lives aren't in danger" Kusakabe said.

"Their pride are..." Ryuuichi murmured, crouching beside Gokudera as he placed a gentle hand on top of the bomber's head. He paid no heed at Kusakabe's introduction as a subordinate of Hibari's. These two needed immediately medical attention. It was already a miracle that they survived after being electrocuted for more than once. "Let's carry them to the hideout" Kusakabe said.

Lal Mirch's gaze met Hibari's for a brief moment. It was hard to believe that the man in front of her took out Gamma, the Lightning Gamma, without much haste. And that much power without the Vongola Ring? Impressive and unbelievable. "Hold on" She said as Hibari started his tracks. "We have wounded. It would be dangerous to carry them while moving. The probability of being attacked is high, and they may discover the hideout"

"There's nothing to worry about if you use our entrance" Hibari slid in another Ring, replacing the one that has shattered and walked into nothing and had promptly disappeared. 'A secret door? Camouflaged using a mist ring...'

"But we have a problem before leaving here. The Rain and Storm Vongola Rings. I'm certain they are on the enemy's radar. We cannot have the signal disappear here" Lal Mirch offered and took the rings to another place.

Ryuuichi carefully picked Gokudera and eyed Kusakabe to to the same to Yamamoto. He smiled softly at Tsuna. "Come on. Let's go back to the base. I'm sure you have things to ask."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sat on a chair with his leg crossed beside Kusakabe. His arms were crossed too, as he half mindedly listened the others reporting their findings to Tsuna. Hibari had went back to his part of the base for they were crowding. He peered at Fuuta and Bianchi. It has been quite a while since he last see the two. He smiled softly. They finally reached the conclusion, to get stronger in a such a short amount of time.

'You too... Get stronger'

"Anoo... Ryuuichi..?" The brunette's voice brought him out of his own musing as he hummed in question. "Umm... Are you involved in the mafia..?" He blinked at the question. Really, the teen should have realized it when he was poof-ed into the past. He chuckled, his right hand reached up to cover his mouth. The two rings glinted and had not only Tsuna's but the other's attention on it too.

"Well, yes." He showed them the rings fully. Tsuna's eyes widen at the crest on one of the rings. " A member of both Vongola and Cavallone Famiglia"

"Two?" Reborn asked. It was quite rare for someone to be a member of two famiglias, even if they were allied. Ryuuichi smirked. He knew that Reborn had found it weird. After all, he was the only one in this era that is in more than one famiglia. "Three, to be exact" He laughed mentally when he noticed the slight twitch on the hitman's eyes.

Tsuna wasn't having it better either.

"T-t-three!? W-w-what-!? H-h-ow?!" Kusakabe decided to enlighten the teen. "Ryuu-san is the middle-man for Vongola and Cavallone, and the boss of The Giudizio Organization, one of the trusted allies of Vongola." Ryuuichi pouted. He had actually wanted Tsuna and Reborn to figure it out themselves. Then again, he rather not risk it for he might get shot by Reborn.

He chuckled at the puzzled expression. "The Judgement Organization.. I never heard of it before" He nodded at the hitman. "Well, that's because it's a new organization. Established just about... Five or six years ago?"

"Ryuu-nii. It is true that your organization is allied with Vindice too...?" Fuuta asked, surprising basically everyone in the room, even Kusakabe.

"V-vindice?!"

Well, damn. He hadn't actually wanted this thing to be known by anyone. Especially if the fact that his organization is one of the Vindice allies (And probably the only one) were to known by mafiasi, who knows what will happen.

".... Yes... But keep this a secret."

"How the hell did you managed to get those cold-blooded creatures to be allied with you?"

Reborn's voice dropped an octave. Even if he was and still is known as the sadistic hitman that wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone in this room right now, he never liked the mafia police. And he would never want to cross path with them. Little did he know, he would.

"I have my ways" Ryuuichi nonchalantly said, not minding if he would pissed the hitman off with his attitude. Even though the Reborn right now isn't the Reborn of this parallel world that he had got chummy with, they are still the same person. And he definitely knew that the hitman wouldn't shot him. Well, maybe not at any vital parts.

"Anything else?"

"W-were you forced to join the mafia..?" If the man was, Tsuna is so going to kill himself when all of this are over. He had unintentionally dragged the others into the mafia world, even Kyoko and Haru who doesn't know anything. He certainly wouldn't like it if Ryuuichi getting involved with the mafia was his fault. Not that he would want to run away from the responsibility that he was the one who caused all these.

Ryuuichi shook his head, smiling. "Nope. I jumped into it myself. Well, even if I didn't, I would be involved in it one way or another. And no, not your fault, Tsuna"

His phone suddenly rang, cutting off anything that the slightly brunette wanted to say. "Sorry" He took out his phone and eyes harden at the number. He simply ignored it, silenced his phone along with the vibration and slipped it back into his pocket. "Nothing important."

He certainly wasn't going to deal with  _him_  right now. "Ryuu-san" Kusakabe called out. The said man turned to him and tilted his head. "Kyou-san wants to meet you now" Kusakabe held out his phone where the message of the Vongola's Cloud Guardian was displayed on the screen.

He winced at the underlying threat of the message and stood up. "I better go find him before he gets irritated. All of you should get some rest. It has been a long day after all."

He looked directly into the eyes of the brunette, making him flinched at the gaze. Ryuuichi smiled and spoke before walking out of the room.

" _Fret not, for the light shall shine._  
 _And soon,_  
 _Four skies shall gathered._ "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter for the Fourth Arc, The Future Arc. This chapter is more towards TYL Ryuuichi and a little confusing.... The next chapter would be mostly about TYL Ryuuichi too... Perhaps. I'm not quite sure.
> 
> Why four skies instead of three, shall be revealed in the Future Final Battle Arc... Or earlier. Depends.
> 
> TYL Ryuuichi still haven't found the answer and knows that his younger self would be the one who will find it. And in the previous chapter, it was said that Ryuuichi had stopped moving in his past life. But in this world, he was moving, unknown to the younger Ryuuichi whilst TYL Ryuuichi had noticed long ago.
> 
> Giudizio, according to one translation website or something I don't know, it meant Judgement in Italian. I was planning to use Iudicium, which had the same meaning except in Latin.. I think. But majority of the few people that I've asked for opinions had opted for Giudizio.. So.. Yeah..
> 
> BTW The Giudizio Organization isn't from the anime. I created it. And even though it is named as an organization, it is the same as the mafia famiglia. Even though it was established in about six years ago, it held the same power and position, maybe higher than the Vongola or Cavallone.
> 
> The other ring Ryuuichi had has the crest of the Cavallone Famiglia.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes.]


	18. TYL Ryuuichi

The dark brown and long haired man sighed. He was searching for Hibari up and down in the Vongola base for almost half and hour now. Damn the fact that the base is so big and wide. Hibari wasn't in his side where it links the Namimori Shrine and the base nor in the training rooms that he had to go. Sometimes, he wondered why were there so many of them but he remembered that the Vongola Guardians are a bunch of violent monkeys that always fight whenever something small happened. Hibari and Mukuro had almost always fight whenever they see each other, which lead to having Tsuna building more training room for his them(and the others) so whenever they meet, they would fight in the training rooms.

Otherwise, he would have a very,  **very**  long list of taxes and payments to repair, renovate and buy new furnitures to replace those which promptly had being destroyed by them (Not to forget, the others too).

Ryuuichi shook his head and sigh. After almost 10 years and they still haven't matured yet. He suddenly smiled, a little in envy. 'At least they had fun...' He remembered that when Tsuna had being shot, and 'died', the guardians whom all he cared about hadn't sport the usual brightness in them.

He, on the other hand, was cringing at the spot the brunette was hit. That would surely hurt. A lot.

Ryuuichi shuddered and forget about it. He walked into his side of the base and when into his room, only to find the door slightly ajar. He blinked and sighed. So this was where Hibari was all the time.

He pushed open the door and closed it once he was inside. He was greeted by a metal tonfa that suddenly slammed onto his door, creating a loud noise. His back hit the door and another tonfa was on his neck as the taller man loomed above him. He sweated.

"You're late" He could practically hear the venom in the man's voice. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Well, if you just tell me where were you I could've been here ages ago" He retorted, pouting a little. Dark brown and grey orbs met as they engaged into a staring contest, none of them backing down. The silent atmosphere around them were a little tensed until Hibari broke it.

"I heard" His sharp, low voice muttered. Hibari observed whatever was swirling in those orbs that he had frequently stared into. First was confusion, before it turned into awareness and then, nothing. The younger man had stopped whatever he was feeling. (How he stop it was a mystery to even Hibari) Ryuuichi tilted his head and asked. "So?"

"Why?" Ryuuichi could hear the silent questions. Why would he wanted to endanger his younger self? How did he know? What was he planning? All the questions that he had always heard. He paused, thinking. Indeed. Why would he? He could have just ignore whatever was happening. He could have just waited for the moment to pass. He could have not do anything.

He had been asking those questions to himself almost every time. Ever since he was born into this world and til now, he still couldn't understand why. He just had the want to do it. Something was telling him to do all the things he had done. This time was no different. The urge that was telling him to follow it had been bugging and annoying him to the point that he couldn't sit still and be quiet.

"... Closure? Need to find answers? Instinct? I'm not sure..."

The silence came back, though this time, it was no longer tense. Hibari had known and heard his answers for many times. The fact that the man in front of him understands other people more than himself got more solid each time he heard them. The eyes, even though Hibari couldn't exactly comprehend, had practically said the same thing.

He slowly backed away, tonfa kept away. He sighed inwardly. There was no way he could stop the man from whatever he was doing once he had made up his mind. He yawned and walked towards the queen bed in the center of the room. He lied down on it. "Whoah whoah whoah! Don't tell me that you're going to sleep here?!"

He gave Ryuuichi a smirk and closed his eyes. Ryuuichi huffed, frustrated at Hibari. Briefly, he wondered was that all Hibari wanted to say. He rolled his eyes, how typical of him. Making him run around here and there. He decided to let it slip. He was feeling a little tired himself after all.

He changed into something more comfortable before slipping under the duvet, not minding if he was sharing a bed with the strongest guardian of Vongola. He was quite used to it after all. ".... Hey, Kyouya...." He muttered, knowing that the said man was still awake. The slight shift from the body beside him was the proof.

".. Take care of my past self... And yourself too." A 'hn' was his reply as a small smile plastered. He softly thanked the man and gave in to sleep.

Hibari cracked an eye open, seeing the peaceful face of the sleeping man. His eyes soften at the sight. Even though he had known him for a long time and could somehow understand him a little, he had always felt the distance between them. No matter how close they were, he would always feel a wall in between them. One day, he will personally break the damned wall.

'I forever will, Ryuuichi'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna opened the door to the kitchen with a yawn, a hand raised to cover his opened mouth. Yesterday was quite a day, running here and there to find and save Haru, I-Pin and Bianchi. Fortunately, they were all alright. I-Pin had recovered from her fever, thanks to the doctor that Haru had bravely brought her to.

At first he thought that he would be meeting the girls and Lambo first thing in the morning, but they weren't in the kitchen. Instead, he saw a man with long dark brown hair in casuals sitting on a chair besides the dining table, drinking something. His eyes widen at the attractiveness of the man. He was wearing a loose grey, short sleeves shirt that hugged his lean frame just right with a pair of black jeans and black shoes while staring into spaces. All in all, he looked very handsome, like a model. (He had never realize that he was this handsome until now)

Tsuna slapped himself mentally.

"G-good morning, Ryuuichi" And then, he remembered that the man was older than him in this era. "-san" He flushed slightly when Ryuuichi chuckled in his lower-than-his-younger-self's voice. He blamed it all on the hormones. (Not to mention that he is a guy!)

"Good morning to you too, Tsuna. Do call me like how you always does" Ryuuichi smiled softly at the teen. His heart clenched for some reasons that he himself doesn't know. Perhaps it was because the time is ticking closer. Perhaps it was envy. He would never know. He stood up from his seat as he gestured for the brunette to sit down. "Sit. Is tea alright?"

"E-eh? I-it's alright!" He shook his head, still having the smile on. He insisted. Tsuna backed down and nodded, seeing that he wouldn't be able to stop the man. Ryuuichi walked towards the counter and prepared a cup of tea for the teen. He hoped that this would help ease the teen's nerves.

"Here" He placed the cup on the table, in front of the brunette as he sat at the opposite of him. His placed his crossed arms on the table and leaned in. "So, how's training coming along?" He had peeked at the teen's training yesterday, and he could tell that he was and still is growing. He is getting stronger each day. The determination to end all these and bring all of them back to the past had him going, not stopping. He is running, faltered a little but not stopping once.

Ryuuichi's eyes soften. 'Ne, when are you going to realize that you  **are**  walking?'

"W-well, it's going alright..." He chuckled. The brunette hadn't noticed that he was doing more than alright. "Ryuuichi..?" He hummed.

Something was tugging inside Tsuna. He wanted to ask something, to say something and tell the man. But words couldn't seem to form. He had no idea why. There was definitely something that he wanted to speak of, but he couldn't grasp what was it. The dark brown orbs that was staring at him had it all disappear until his mouth suddenly moved.

"Do you still feel alone?" Two pair of eyes widen as Tsuna slapped his mouth shut, surprised at what had came out of it. "N-no I m-mean-!" He struggled, trying to cover it up but one slightly sorrowed smile had stopped him. He had recognized the smile. He had seen it before. In the past, he would sometimes saw them on Ryuuichi's face. He would sometimes, most of the time, see the sad, depressed eyes and whenever he saw Ryuuichi walking away with his back facing him, he would see the lonely back.

He couldn't figure out why would he feel like that but...

"... Yes...."

Tsuna gritted his teeth and frowned.

"Ryuu-" "Na, Tsuna... What is life to you? Who are you to yourself?" Tsuna slammed shut his mouth at the unexpected question. The man did not want to continue the topic, that's for sure. He wanted to inquire it further but he felt that he shouldn't. Not when the man wouldn't talk about it.

Silence took over as he thought of it. The question had struck him, hard. He had never asked those question, nor had being asked. He had never thought about it too. Before he came to the future, before he met Reborn, before all these mafia businesses, he had his mind set on the fact that he would live a useless life as a failure. But meeting Reborn proofed him wrong.

He had found out he was never a failure, it was just that he hadn't found his talent at that time. He was more than 'Dame-Tsuna'.

"Life... Is unfair and full of unexpected stuffs...." He slowly started. He hadn't like his life much but he wouldn't want any one but this. "... At first I thought that I was a nobody.. But I'm a somebody now..." The truth. He really was a nobody at first. Now, he wasn't one. He was finally somebody.

"I have friends, family whom I care for... I love everyone..." He smiled softly at the memories of his guardians, the girls, his tutor, his friends and family.

Ryuuichi returned a smile of his own. He closed his eyes. "And so do everyone else" His hands intertwined, twisting a rings slightly. "The others would probably answer the same thing as what you did..." His eyes opened, looking at his hand. "You see, I couldn't see it. I couldn't see the worth in life, nor the worth in myself. I never liked myself nor understood myself. I have considered that I am someone not worth the time or trouble. And I felt that I wasn't moving. As if I was a living doll"

"At least, that was how my younger self feels like most of the time." Tsuna's breath hitched when Ryuuichi looked up at him, directly into his eyes. He felt loneliness, doubt, fear and most of all, emptiness. All of them from Ryuuichi. At that moment, he felt as if their soul was connected for a few seconds before the man cut it off.

"Tsuna, please promise me one thing" Tsuna slowly nodded. Ryuuichi smiled at the hesitating brunette.

"Don't leave my past self behind"

\------------------------------------------------------------

_Knock_

"Who is it?" He heard a familiar name and agreed on letting the man in before promptly having the shock of his life. "D-d-drake?!" His jaw dropped as low as it can on his lying position. How could he not when his teenage-friend turned into an older looking one. The chuckle had him blushing.

"I see that you still call me by that name, Yato. Oh and do close your mouth before anything goes in" Gokudera flushed harder and quickly closed his mouth. He frowned as Ryuuichi sat down on a plastic chair beside his bed. The teen- no, man's hair had grown longer. It was tied into a tight high pony tail as the hair flowed pass his mid section. It was longer than the shoulder length one he used to had. His cheeks had lost it's baby fats as his jawline got more refined. He still had the look and smile on him though.

Gokudera brieftly wondered how could someone look so similar to their younger self yet look so different.

"So, how's everything?" He was asking about his condition. Both physically and mentally.

"Great! See!" He suppress the urge to wince in pain as he lifted his arms up. He saw a disapproval gaze from Ryuuichi and stopped. He looked away and laughed sheepishly.

"The truth?" He hesitated. Should he tell? He wouldn't want to burden Ryuuichi nor want to worry him. But he couldn't lie to him. Ryuuichi could always see him through, no matter how well could he lie. The narrowed eyes on him burned. He opened his mouth and closed them again, feeling his throat dry under the gaze.

"It hurts. Like shit. Still could feel the electric tingle" He jumped a little but leaned into the warm, larger hand as Ryuuichi run his fingers across his hair. He peered at the man and felt the familiar warmth of a parent. The memories played in his mind like a movie, vividly. The fight with Gamma, the near death experience, the fear, the feeling of him disappointing Tenth, and his dead mother. He would not admit to anyone that he had felt fear.

Before he known Drake, before he met Tsuna and the others, before all this Vongola business, he had not even care if he had died. He had not care that if he had lost his life. But after meeting them, he felt it. He finally felt fear. The fear of dying. At first, during the match with Belphegor in the Ring Conflict, he had thought that it would be an honor to die for Tsuna. But those words from him, and Ryuuichi, had him realizing, that he wanted to live. That he wanted to be alive and walk down the road along with them, enjoying the view along the way. During the fight with Gamma brought the feeling forward even further and clearer.

Moisture gathered around the rim of his eyes.

"It's ok... Let it out" Sometimes he hated that Ryuuichi can always read him like an open book. But he felt loved by that. Tears immediately dropped as he cried, the warm hand never leaving his head as it kept stroking him.

Ryuuichi eyes soften at the crying teen. He knew that Gokudera's insecurity and the doubts he had. The older him was not much better anyway, but at least he knew that they will be with him and want him. He stayed with him, keeping him company until he stopped crying.

"D-drake.. Sorry.." He chuckled.

"Don't apologize for what you need, Yato. Apologize for not saying it."

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Ever since the day he had arrived, Reborn felt unsettled. The fact that his future self had died took quite a while to sink in, let alone that Tsuna had died too. That, certainly did not sit well, at all. Tsuna could already be considered his friends and unlike the time he was tutoring Dino, they had pass the teacher-student relationship into a closer one. He definitely would not admit it. Not now. Though, he wondered when did he let that happen.

Inaudible taps of footsteps stopped his musing as he raised his guard up higher. The door to the lounge slid open and closed as a man stepped inside. Oh, right. There's  _this_  guy. The one that he had the urge to slap the I-know-something-you-don't grin since probably the first day he met him. Then again, too troublesome because the younger self of this man was able to run away from him. The older him would probably do much better. (It happened when Ryuuichi accidentally annoyed him. He managed to escape by a hair and avoided getting kicked)

Though, even though it irked him, he was and still is interested in him. He could see potentials underlying in that facade and masks he had, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint it. So, he decided to let Ryuuichi off until he deem him dull.

"Oh! Hello" He gave a smirk and a nodded as the man sat on the sofa opposite of his. Ryuuichi plopped down on the sofa without a care and huffed a little, looking a little tired. "It's kindda surprising to see you alone, Reborn" True. Ever since Bianchi of this era met him, she had been sticking to him all the time. He don't really mind but it got a little too irritating that he had told her to get lost. Well, not literally. He's a gentleman after all.

"Really" He mused, studying Ryuuichi with keen eyes. He had certainly grew stronger, and wiser. Despite Ryuuichi's growth on height and shoulder length, he's still shorter and smaller than Reborn.

"Yep." He didn't reply as comfortable silence fell into place. He could tell the man had gone daydreaming when he stared into spaces. He wondered what the man was thinking that had him frown slowly as time passed.

"Hey, Reborn" He stayed silent as a sign for him to continue. "What do you think of this future? Do you like it?" He scowled at the second question. Like it? He loathed it. It wasn't because of the fact that he had died. No. It was because this world is a chaos. Don't get him wrong. He like chaos, hell he even love it. But not this kind of chaos. Not when he doesn't know what will happen and shits.

"A bunch of goddamn shits" Ryuuichi burst out laughing at the hitman's words. It wasn't everyday that you can see him cusses. Well, he couldn't blame the hitman for hating this world. He hadn't really like it either. It wasn't easy for him to protect his family, blood and not, 24/7. And it was a pain in the ass that he had to fly here and there around to world to settle stuffs. His motion sickness never helped either.

"I agree. It is a 'bunch of goddamn shits'." He snickered very hard. "But I wouldn't want any other than this one" True. In the other parallel worlds, where the boss of Millefiore had probably took over. Life there would probably be worst. He rather have live peacefully here despite the troubles, thank you very much.

"True"

"Then, what do you think of Ryuuichi?" He asked, eyes flashed in dark, metallic blue for a second that had Reborn blinking. The hitman thought it was probably a trick of light but something tells him that it wasn't. He raised an eyebrow at the question. Why was the man talking in third person's view had him puzzled. It was as if he was talking about another person.

".... Weird and mysterious. Yet, interesting" He smirked at the slight twinkle in the dark brown orbs. "Oh? How so?"

"He has a lot of secrets. Secrets about things that even  _I_  don't know. I would certainly be delighted to unravel each and every single one til he is bare" Ryuuichi laughed again. He wasn't going to deny them all. He definitely holds tons of secrets. At the back of his mind, he mused that how he was able to keep all of them without spilling it out even once, accidentally or not. It was an amazing feat, he must say.

His phone vibrated, a message. He didn't bothered to even look at it to know what was it. He simply stood up, the amused smile still haven't left his face.

"Well, if you want to know that badly, why not sticking to him longer?" And, he walked out of the room without turning back to the hitman.

'And do help him through all these'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The younger Ryuuichi would appear in the next chapter.
> 
> Gokudera would sometimes slip up and calls Ryuuichi by Drake, which meant dragon in what language that I've forgotten.
> 
> Tsuna could understand, or at least, read Ryuuichi with the help of his intuition. That's how he knew what he was feeling. Though, he still couldn't understand whatever the man was thinking.
> 
> Ryuuichi spoke in third party as though speaking of another person because he, was a she, and would sometimes feel like he wasn't the person named Ryuuichi but was the girl of his previous life. Like, detached awareness? I'm not sure how you explain it.
> 
> The older Ryuuichi knew a lot of things. And he knew a few hints about why he was in the world of KHR, though not fully. BTW the inner monologue he had was about his younger self if you haven't realize it.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	19. Confusion

Outside, the sun was setting. It was about 7 in the evening when Ryuuichi finally appeared again. After the morning of him going around the base to meet the others and have some small talks, he had promptly disappeared. Well, not literally. He just went out of the base to finish some business, and have a walk.

It was quite normal outside, nothing was life threatening unless you consider the flimsy members of the Millefiore that was searching for them a threat. Well, they certainly isn't. Though, for the Arcobalenos, the atmosphere outside of the base could kill them. Ryuuichi couldn't exactly feel the Tri-ni-Sette, he could feel the air around him outside the base was, shittier for the lack of better words. Though, he could only frown at it.

By the time he got back to the base, everyone had gathered in the dining room for dinner, except Yamamoto and Gokudera. Tsuna, who was helping the girls and children on setting up the table, was wondering where was the man as he did not see him after their chat in the morning when the door slid open and close. He tilted his head at the man's appearance. Ryuuichi had changed into what he had wore when they first met in this era.

"Are you going somewhere, Ryuuichi?" He asked.

Ryuuichi had a smirk plastered on his face since he first stepped into the room. He greeted them and looked towards Tsuna. "Not exactly" He looked at his wristwatch. '2 minute' His smirk got larger.

Reborn frowned. The man was planning something. He knew it. "What are you planning?"

The man chuckled. Of course, the hitman would notice something. Reborn's words had brought everyone's attention onto him. 1 minute left. "Nothing in particular" He could briefly hear frantic taps of shoes before the door was slammed open behind him, startling everyone.

"H-hibari-san!!" He turned around and gave the Cloud Guardian a smile. He paid no heed at the growing horror in those grey eyes and looked back to everyone else. "Good luck. Oh and do take care of him" He gave them a large grin, hands shoved into his black trousers before pink clouds appeared, blocking their view.

Tsuna's eyes widen as his jaw dropped. 'Oh hell no' He hadn't expect what would happen and the others probably didn't either.

"Well, this is quite unexpected...." The smoke dispersed before a shorter and younger Ryuuichi in a T-shirt and below knee length shorts appeared, replacing his older self.

The younger Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow in questioning. The others one way or another had their jaw slacken, gaping at what had happened. He had just finished his shower when he was suddenly blasted into the future, which explained why his hair was wet. How did the bazooka even reached him when he was in his room with the door locked was something that he don't know, and don't want to.

"Y-younger Ryuuichi?!" He blinked at the brunette's dumbfounded voice. "Yo"

Behind him, Hibari gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly to the point that his knuckles had turned white.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow. Just. Wow" Ryuuichi slowly said. He, Tsuna, Reborn and Hibari was in the lounge room where the brunette had brief him about the situation, not like he had no idea about it. He wasn't surprised at that but he need to fake it, somehow. He could feel worried and wary eyes on him, burning holes unintentionally. It was from Tsuna. Those brown eyes told him that he knew something. Maybe he his future self had said something.

'Curse you, me'

"So... Am I going to join the fight?" Hibari immediately answered him, making him scowl at the man. "No" Hibari had been glaring at him ever since he had appeared in this era. The man's arm were crossed, which meant that he was annoyed about something. Not a good thing because he had a hunch that the cause of his annoyance was him, or his older self as the matter of fact.

"Why not?"

"No means no" Hibari probably couldn't hold his anger in any longer and stomped out of the room after giving him that answer. Well, it's not like he was going to listen to him anyway.

He rolled his eyes at the sound of the door closing. It was probably the time of the month for Hibari. "Whatever" He muttered and huffed, running his hands through his damp bangs, a little irritated at the lack of tight tug at the back of his head. He should have grabbed his hair tie(Rubber band) before he was poof-ed here. As if he had the time to. He sighed.

".... What am I doing in this era?" He asked. After all, he was curious. The last time he had went into the future, Hibari and Dino had told him that he was working for the Vongola and Cavallone, but he doubt that was all. He felt that his older self was doing something more than that.

Tsuna hesitated a little, wondering if he should tell him. The older Ryuuichi had not told him not to mention anything about his future self after all. "U-umm... You are a member of both Vongola and Cavallone" The teen nodded, urging him to continue. "And...."

"And..?"

"... And you're the boss of this organization... G-gudezo..?" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at that and tilted his head. He had never heard of that organization before. Perhaps it was founded by his older self. But for what reasons? "Giudizio?" The brunette nodded. "Ah yes! That!"

Judgement? What? Did he took law? He scrunched his eyebrows. He never liked law, nor had even thought about taking up law before. It was and still is a very troublesome and hard course. He definitely wouldn't take it. 'Unless..... He had founded the answer...'

Or maybe not. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here if that was the case. He inaudibly sighed. Even he couldn't understand his older self. How wonderful. Giannini suddenly appeared while holding a tool box, smiling triumphantly. "It's done, Ryuuichi-san" He tilted his head in questioning. What was done?

"..Hah?"

"I mean, you can access to the your side of the base now. The older Ryuuichi-san had told me to loosen the security for your access, Ryuuichi-san" His name being used twice in the same sentence sounded a little weird as he nodded slowly. Was his older self that secretive? He thought that he would have opened up at least a little to the others, seeing that he had spent almost 10 years with them, in a literal sense.

"Wait...  _My_  side of the base? What?" Right. What did he do to have such grand luxury. He hoped that he had heard wrongly but unfortunately, Giannini nodded. "Yes. Your older self have a whole floor for himself in this base" His eyes widen as his jaw slacken. If he paid attention to the brunette, he would realize that he had the same expression as his.

"A.Whole.FREAKING.FLOOR??!" He groaned and hid his face. "Am I that shameless...?!"

Giannini laughed as Reborn had amusement twinkling in his eyes. "No, no. Your older self had the whole floor for himself because of a few circumstances" He was still going to categorize his older self as a shameless human. But the circumstances. He wondered what was the so-called circumstances that his older self had. Questions swirled in his mind until Vongola's engineer decided to break his thoughts. He had offered to show him to his quarters seeing that it was quite late already.

He peered at the clock and nodded. The brunette needed to rest for he will have training tomorrow and he was getting a little tired after all.He, along with Tsuna and Reborn who decided to follow, tailed after the shorter man onto the lift. The ride was quite silent minus the occasion questions from the two youngest.

The stepped out of the lift after reaching the 8th floor and was immediately greeted by a heavy looking metal door. There was a scanner beside it along with this small hole.

"Please place your hand on the scanner, Ryuuichi-san" And he did, his palm was scanned and a green light shone. The door automatically opened and his jaw dropped. It was like any other floor, very spacious, except, he could distinctly detect a layer of something coated on the walls and ceiling. "What. The. Actual. Heck!?"

"The walls and ceiling here," Giannini placed his hand on the wall proudly. "Are coated with two layers of flame resistance coat. It is one of my creations requested by Ryuuichi-san. It is invisible unless one has sharp eyes. The training room, on the other hand, has more layers of flame with impact resistance coatings"

He hold a shaking hand up. "W-why did I need that..?!"

"Well, Ryuuichi-san hadn't told me why. He just asked me to do it." He facepalmed. How typical of him. "And the small hole by the scanner...?"

"That is a flame scanner. Before this, only Ryuuichi-san's, Reborn-san's, Hibari-san's, Cavallone's Boss's and Juudaime's flames are able access into this side of the base but Ryuuichi-san had deactivated the system 10 months ago"

At least that made sense. Not! Why did he had that security system installed in the first place?

"Stop dwelling, small animal" They jumped at the sudden appearance of the Cloud guardian, well, except for Reborn. Ryuuichi's eyes widen for the nth time since he last came into this era. His brain shut down for a few second and was rebooting, before he had promptly squealed internally. Hibari was wearing a yukata that had shown most of his collarbone and neck.

"Hibari?!" Hibari twitched a little and shifted his gaze turned glare to the others. They got the message and immediately scrambled onto the lift, out of the floor. Reborn was smirking all the way, his black eyes shimmering with amusement.

He gave the teen a look after the others were gone before walking away. The teen looked just like when his older self was younger, physically and to other's eyes. To his, he was not. Although the two was exactly the same person minus the age, they were quite different. While the younger one is quite reserved and has the tendency to hide things, his older self was worst. The older Ryuuichi was so tight lipped that no one could ever force him to speak, not even Hibari.

And if there's one thing about the small animal that annoys him the most, is his secrecy. He hated being left out of the loop and sure as hell do not like Ryuuichi keeping things from him. Especially Ryuuichi.

He turned around a corner and walked into Ryuuichi's room, aware that the teen was behind him. He grunted towards the large computer desk at the corner of the room and left.

Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior of the man's but said nothing as he watched him disappear through that corner. He slowly walked into the room and observed his surrounding. A pang of nostalgia hit him. The room was how it is in his past life. The computer table at the corner of the room, a huge shelf beside it, the king sized bed was placed in the middle of the wall, head board against the wall with a small, black night stand beside it and the cabinet opposite it.

It was an ordinary and plain room. Though, the colour and how the furnitures were placed were almost the same. He couldn't exactly get his room furnished like this for he do not want to bother his busy parents and it was quite a waste of time. 'So, after all these years, I still remembered it...' The only thing that was different was the shoes that was placed on a rack beside the door. He slipped out of his slipper that Reborn had handed him seeing that he wasn't wearing any and walked towards the table.

There was a black metal case on it with a scissor engraved on it. He blinked at it, wondering why was there a scissor. Then, he saw the 4 number combination lock. 'Oh. Could it be..?' He turned the numbers of each slot and the case opened with a click after he pressed the button beside the last slot.

"Seriously..." He rolled his eyes. He looked into the case and saw 6 Mammon-chained rings, an ash gun and a note. The rings had different colored gems on it while there were chain-liked engravement on the gun. He nimbly took the note and read it, frowning at the choice of language used.

" _Hello, young me. I hope you are having a great time in this era already._ (Ryuuichi snorted at that) _As you have probably realized, everything was just as you have expected and yet, everything was just as you have **not**  expected. Too much details and my memory of this language is hazy enough for me to not elaborate it for you. And since you will know why much later, let's not dwell on it, shall we?_

_Anyway, those A class rings are for your usage for the upcoming battle as well as the gun. How you use them is up to you. Oh, and do be careful with the rings because they might break. There are a few more stuffs in the training room that you can use it too._

_As for your flame, well, you can find Giannini to have him scan for it._

_Do try not to kill yourself._

_Sincerely, your older self that you are probably cursing at right now._

_P/S= Do not worry about Yuuichi, Mother and Father. They are safe._ "

He huffed. Oh he's cursing his older self alright, no need to confirm that. Why can't he just tell him his flame? He raised an eyebrow as he read it again to make sure that he did not misread anything. He wondered what would be in the training room his older self had stored for him. Looking back at the stuffs in the case, he saw another loose Mammon chain and tilted his head. The action had the ring that was forgotten on his neck shifted. 'Oh'

He took out the ring around his neck and slid it onto his right middle finger. It fitted perfectly, like how it did before. He absentmindedly took the chain and loop it around the ring. 'He didn't mention anything about this ring....'

Perhaps his older self doesn't know about the ring. Then again, there wasn't a thing that he doesn't know. Well, his older self. A yawn erupted from his lips as he rubbed his eyes. Fatigue was getting the best of him. He had literally run here and there before he was blasted into this era and initially, he wanted to sleep right after he had bath but as you can see, the plan was thrown out the window. And before he read the note, he initially wanted to hit the hay but curiosity on the 'stuffs' got the best of him.

He sighed and walked out of the room, his, after slipping back into the slipper. He mentally noted to get a pair of shoes or boots, whichever the others have spared. If he want to get into battles and such, he couldn't wear flimsy slippers, right?

He strolled aimlessly in the hallway, opening the doors that weren't lock until he found a very spacious room, filled with weapons. He walked inside slowly, looking around. True to what Giannini had said, the training room were coated with more of those special coating. He finally understood why it was impact resistance. The walls were filled with burn marks, scratches and cracks.

Ryuuichi sweated. Just how strong is his older self?

He scanned the weapons and his eyes landed on a certain familiar metal weapon, a metal bow with sharp blades curved at the end. It was the weapon that Reborn had gifted him during his birthday. So his older self was using it.

His fingers brushed over it slowly, feeling the cold metal against his skin. He could tell that it was frequently used seeing that the grip winded with ropes were tattered and there were hint of burns. It confused him to no end that there were so many burn marks, on the walls and weapons after he had looked thoroughly through it. Either the older him was playing around with fire or it was his flames. He decided that it was the latter.

'Seriously.. What were  _you_  doing....'

\-------------------------------------------------------------

The ground vibrated, not to much to be considered an earthquake but Ryuuichi could feel it. He was in midst of his stance to fire an arrow with the metal arrow when the vibration had his concentration broken. He slacken his stiff arms and pointed the arrow downwards, looking up towards the ceiling. 'It's starting... Huh'

He placed the weapon on it's stand and walked out of the training room, towards where Tsuna might be. The shoes that he had managed to find in the room and was the size he wears squeaked to a stop as he stepped inside the elevator. (Apparently, his older self had also prepared a few set of clothing for him. How convenient)

His arms were crossed as he recalled the results of his scan. The first thing he had done after waking up was finding Giannini and had his flames scanned. He remembered that both Giannini and him were surprised at it. Giannini didn't knew anything about the flames he have other than two flames, one which he had seen himself, first hand. Cloud and Sun, second and third strongest flame he have. He himself was speechless. He told the engineer to keep it a secret.

So that explained the different element rings.

A ding which indicated the arrival on the floor brought him back to earth as he walked towards the training room. He winced a little at the bright light when the door opened, looking up to see bright purple flare of a flame, the flame he was working on just now. His hair swayed violently, cause by the strong wind but wasn't particularly bothered. Behind him, Fuuta and Lambo whom both had came to watch the brunette's training were almost blown off.

"Ryuu-nii, did you come to watch too?" He gave the brown haired teen a side way smile and nodded. He turned towards the purple flame.

"They are you going at it." Fuuta commented, looking up too. Lambo who was sitting on his shoulder was happy and jumping. "I was right, it was fireworks!"

Most of them could see that Tsuna was struggling to push back the cloud flame coated hedgehog with his gloved hands, except for the young Lambo, whom had thought that the flame was fireworks and was amazed by it. Even though Fuuta hesitated, he still tried to explain the flames to the child.

"Actually, Lambo, I was in charge of raising you until three years ago." He started but Lambo clearly wasn't listening. "Tsuna-nii was strongly opposed to letting a child fight but we didn't have that kind of luxury. I'm going to explain things to you for my self-satisfaction. The light may be beautiful like fireworks, but it's not. You should remember that it's dangerous."

"You're the Guardian of Lightning, a vital member of Vongola" The Vongola ring in Lambo's hair, tangled, glinted.

Ryuuichi was half listening to Fuuta, half isn't. The teen wasn't talking to him anyway. His eyes focused on the bright flame. Tsuna had pushed back the flaming hedgehog a little, but it was clearly still a weak attempt to Hibari, and Ryuuichi. The latter knew that it wouldn't work anyway.

Hibari cluck his tongue. "As I had heard from the infant, you're nothing like the man that I know, who was older by ten years." True, the Tsunayoshi he know is stronger than this one, so much more stronger, and wiser. He ignored the retorts from the bomber and peered at the dark brown hair teen through the corner of his eyes when he felt his stares. Him too, was the same.

Ryuuichi saw Hibari looking at him, so he turned away, just in time to see Tsuna using Zero Point BreakThrough First Edition. The brunette succeeded in freezing the hedgehog, along with the Cloud flame, impressing the others. Lal then said. "It's not over yet" Dark purple clouds with spikes suddenly surrounded him, multiplying. He wasn't fast enough to freeze all of them and had promptly being caged inside a Needle Sphere of the hedgehog.

"An air-tight sphere made from compounded Cloud Flame that has the ultimate power of isolation. His flame doesn't have the strength to break this" Hibari said. He walk up towards the sphere and place his hands on it. "The amount of oxygen is limited inside the isolation area. If you don't escape soon, you'll die." It was as though he doesn't care if the future boss would die.

"Knock it off! You come out of nowhere after all this time... Do you plan on killing Juudaime?! Let him out!" Gokudera demanded.

"It's only natural that the weak return to the dirt. While I may have a reason to kill Sawada Tsunayoshi, I certainly have no reason to let him live"

Before Gokudera and Yamamoto retorted, Ryuuichi placed his hands on their shoulder, giving them a slight reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry. We won't let him die" The teen gave Hibari a loopsided smile, much to the man's dismay. "So, let's start out training" Obviously, they didn't want to leave the brunette when he's still in the sphere, but Reborn had said that this is a trial for Tsuna and Bianchi whom appeared without her goggles had forced them to go.

When they were gone, Ryuuichi made eye contact with Hibari before moving to the corner of the room, sitting down on the floor with his back leaned against it. Fuuta and Lambo sat beside him, joining him.

They waited for the brunette to break through the sphere in silence, getting more anxious as time ticked away. Not to mention that he's almost out of oxygen.

An impact from the inside of the sphere had vibrated against the floor and walls of the room. Tsuna himself knew that he's out of time, so he had made the last move. It was a futile attempt though, only a small part of it had melted off. He's panting so hard from lack of oxygen and thought for solutions, anything to get him out. His flame dispersed off as he collapsed, taking off his gloves to look at the ring.

'What more do you want from me?' And then, a light glowed from the ring and shone directly at the forehead of the brunette's. At the same time outside the sphere, Ryuuichi's breath hitched a little as he felt a twinge of pain from his head and fell unconscious. Fortunately, he was sitting and no one had noticed anything wrong. His crossed arms slacken as the ring chained with Mammon chain around his neck glowed softly before dying off.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hibari was annoyed that TYL Ryuuichi was trying to endanger his younger self, which led to him not allowing Ryuuichi to fight because, if the younger one dies, the older one will disappear.
> 
> The scissor engravement and the code was something that Ryuuichi always use in his previous life. Hint, from an anime. Try and guess.
> 
> TYL Ryuuichi wrote in the language that he never actually liked, a language he learnt in his previous life and hadn't used it for a long time, which is why he wouldn't want to elaborate on things. It wasn't his- her mother tongue. Though, that was just an excuse. And besides, Hibari, or someone else might understand it if they had managed to crack it open. So, it was a just-in-case thing. Again, another excuse.
> 
> The weapon Reborn had gifted him was one of his most frequently used weapon. There will be others that I'll state in a few chapters later.. Maybe. [I did mention that he's a natural born weapon user, right?]
> 
> Is this considered a cliffhanger? Well, I guess.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	20. Trial

 

"Do it! Do it! Do it!" Tsuna's eyes widen, images flashed in his mind vividly.

"Just spare my life! If I die.. My kid.. My wife" A man surrounded by bloodied bodies plead, but was shot to death in the end.

'What is this? These images are flowing directly into my head'

"Get revenge!" Buildings on fire. "Get them!" A car blowing up. "Wipe them out!" Men in black.

'What? What is this?'

"These are the sins of the Vongola" An almost invisible man with orange mask appeared, follow by nine more, all wearing orange, flaming masks. "Murder, Revenge, Betrayal." One of them started. "The endless pursuit of political power. The history of Vongola Mafia."

"One who holds Vongola's Sky Ring. Do you have the resolution?" Another one continued, making the brunette turned towards him. "The determination to inherit these sin?" Another said. The images flashed again in his mind, the pleads and cries for mercy, the demands for their loved ones and their scream upon death. All were too cruel. Tears ran down his cheeks as he clutched his head.

"These are the sins carried by the Vongola."

"This is the Vongola's history"

"Do not avert your eyes from the truth" "Accept the truth" "You had better have the resolution" "You'd best have the determination to inherit these sins" He couldn't take it anymore. The death, the blood, the demands, all of them.

"No... Stop..." He sobbed. "Stop it!!" He shouted til the ones outside the sphere could here. All of them were getting more anxious, waiting and not losing hope.

"Stop... Stop it!"

"Do not avert your eyes. This is the fate of those who would succeed the Vongola. This is the very reason that you have life." More tears ran.

"No.. I can't do these terrible things!"

"You can't attain the power without paying the proper price" "If you want great power, you must have the resolve to succeed this great history"

Great? How great was it? It certainly wasn't in Tsuna's eyes. "Great history? That's what you call this?" He shut his eyes close tightly. "I don't want the power to do this!" His mother's bright smile appeared, Lambo and I-pin fighting over a piece of cookie, Bianchi and her poison cooking, Fuuta humming while reading his ranking book, Haru, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Onii-san, and Kyoko-chan. The ever so bright Kyoko-chan, suddenly sadden by what had happened.

"Don't try to act so noble" He remembered Reborn had once said. "You're not capable of being a hero. Returning everyone to the pass? Enduring training to defeat the enemy? Such noble ideals aren't really like you. Your feelings back then were much more simple. When you first lit the ring, what did you want to do?"

He wanted to simply protect Kyoko-chan. He want to protect everyone. "No.. I thought I could do anything to protect everyone. But I.. I don't want this kind of power!" He declared, surprising the masked men.

"If you're going to make me succeed all of these mistaken action, I'll destroy the Vongola!"

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Upon the declaration, Ryuuichi smirked. He was standing by the sideline in the dark void, looking at the succession to the sin of the ones whom wore the ring. He was suddenly here when he had a mild headache, and had witnessed what had happened. They couldn't see him and hadn't notice him.

He smirk dropped into a soft smile as Tsuna had collapsed onto a pair of arms. It was the Ninth boss of Vongola, smiling warmly at the brunette. The darkness brighten up into the color of the clear blue sky. Timoteo moved away into line, as Tsuna gasp and Ryuuichi was amazed at the sight.

The Vongola crest glowed on the ground in front of him as seven men and a woman lined up with one sitting on a throne-like chair. A man that looked distantly like Xanxus, Secondo, his orange flame lit up on his palm. The next one, Terzo, had his knife lit up. Quarto, his fork. Quinto, his Katar. Sesto, his boomerang. Settime, his gun. Ottavo, her crossbow. And Nono, his cane.

Lastly, the one sitting on the throne stood up, his glove with a Roman one lit up with bright Sky flame, Vongola Primo, who looked like Tsuna minus the colour of his hair.

Primo spoke. "I accept your determination. A portion of our time carved into the ring. Prosper or Ruin; Do as you wish, Vongola Decimo"

"We've been waiting for you." Primo whispered. The flames from the bosses got larger and the crest beneath him glowed brighter. The bosses surrounding him in circle turned into orange flame. "You will succeed the mark of Vongola" Tsuna heard as a bright light over took his vision.

The sphere cracked, before finally breaking up apart. In all his glory to the others, he appeared in his Hyper Dying Will Mode. His X-Glove turned into X-Glove Version Vongola Ring.

He had overcome it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the bright light dispersed, Ryuuichi was still in the darkness, alone where the bosses and Tsuna had gone. 'Now.. Why was I witnessing that...'

He jumped when flames of different element appeared, surrounding him in circle with the orange on in front of him. "Shiroki Ryuuichi" He frowned as the first Generation of Vongola Familgia appeared. He looked at all of them, noting that the Cloud Guardian was somehow staring at him, not even bothering to hide it.

He turned back towards Vongola Primo, or Giotto as the matter of fact, and gave him a hesitate nod. ".... Um.."

Dark brown orbs met bright orange as he and Giotto locked eyes for almost a minute with the latter trying to read him. He almost jumped away when Giotto raised his pointer finger onto his forehead and it glowed in orange flame. He made a puzzled noise, feeling tired. "We shall begin the trial"

And the last thing he heard before darkness took over again, was "We hope the best for you"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

"No reason to be disappointed. I hear Sky Boxes exists, too." Hibari stated. His hedgehog had went back to the box after defeating Tsuna's as he, without anything else, walked towards the unconscious teen, promptly stopping the 'spar'. He had noticed that the teen wasn't conscious in the middle of it, which was also why he had stopped.

He crouched down and placed a hand on the teen's. Wordlessly, he hoisted Ryuuichi up bridal-style, walked out of the training room and headed to the teen's room, passing by Yamamoto whom had came to look for Reborn. It wasn't common for Ryuuichi to be unconscious, or asleep in the middle of something but it does happen, which is why Hibari wasn't panicking. (As for the others, they did not say anything as they knew that Hibari knew what to do, and that he will never harm him)

He had gently placed Ryuuichi on his bed when he stirred, grunting lightly. "Hi..Bari.." He sat down beside him and hummed in question. Ryuuichi covered his eyes with his hands and groaned, staying silent for a few minute.

"Did...... You know?" The Cloud Guardian raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "About my memories...." He frowned. What memories?

"No" Ryuuichi sighed, had already expecting the answer. He peered at the man through the gap between his fingers before closing them. "What is it?"

"It's nothing"

Hibari was irritated at the answer. He knew that it isn't 'nothing'. He'd rather die than beliving that it was 'nothing'. The bed creaked at the movement. He grabbed the teen's wrist and pulled it above his head. He was hovering above Ryuuichi as he pinned him down.

'Oh shit..' Ryuuichi struggled a little before giving up upon the tightening grip on his wrist and the legs that was on his. He had no chance to escape after all. He looked up right into the grey orbs, not backing down despite he was in such a disadvantaged state. Hibari twitched at it, growling as he demanded him to tell him. "Not now, Hibari" They engaged into a staring contest before Hibari gave up. Read. GAVE UP.

He flopped down beside the teen on his back gracefully and pulled the teen nearer him, keeping a vice grip on the waist instead of the wrist.

Ryuuichi was getting deja vu. This was the second time. He tried to get out but it was a futile attempt. Then, he promptly sighed and shifted closer to the man. Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. (As if)

Hibari waited til the teen's breathing even out and was asleep before cracking an eye open. He scoffed a small laughter at the quite adorable sight. He had a soft smile on and closed his eyes, slowly drifted into slumber.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Lambo-chan!! Please come out and wear your clothes!!" Ryuuichi heard Haru's voice and turned around, a large water bottle in hand with a towel around his neck, still in his archery uniform. He was going to the kitchen to fill up his water bottle when he heard the girl's shout.

"Haru?" The said girl's hair was damp and not tied up like she usually would. She would looked.. Tempting to most guys but not to Ryuuichi. He used to be a girl after all (How many times have this sentence repeated in this story?)

Haru blinked. "Ryuuichi-san! Hello!" She gave him a bright smile which he returned with his own soft one. "Hello. Are you looking for Lambo?" She nodded.

"Yes! Have you seen him? He needs to wear his clothes before he catches a cold" She held up the child's clothes as a proof. Ryuuichi merely chuckled. Perhaps Lambo had declared loudly about the appendages to Tsuna, Yamamoto and Reborn. "No. But I know where he is. Shall I show you to him?"

They walked side by side with him leading to the kitchen with the occasion small talks with Haru. "Hey, Haru"

"Yes?"

"If there's anything bothering you, you can always tell me. I'll help you" Haru was surprised at the sudden words. She hadn't expect him to say something like that, much less to a girl. She flushed a little when the teen faced her and winked. "And by anything, I meant including 'that'." She hit him at the back when he laughed loudly.

"H-how did you know about those stuff!" Ryuuichi hummed. "Well, basically most people at this age knows about that, save for those who lives under a rock. And besides," He gave her a side way look and a smirk. "It wasn't something foreign to me" He went into the kitchen snickering, not giving her a chance to say anything more.

Haru found it very,  **very**  strange. The last one was the weirdest. But, nonetheless, the fact that there's someone willing to listen to her made her felt more relaxed.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

"... Kyoko?"

The said girl jumped and whirled around, hands clutched near her heart. "A-ah! Ryuuichi-kun!" She took a few deep breathe to calm down.

Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at Kyoko's action and frowned. "Is there anything wrong?" He asked, pushing her to sit down on a chair despite her protest. He pulled another chair and sat down in front of her.

Kyoko shook her head. "No....." She squirmed under the pressure of the stare Ryuuichi had gave. He knew that she was lying and he wouldn't back down until she told him. Kyoko knew that too, but she still tried to escape. She gave him a fake but bright smile.

"There's nothing wrong, really!" Ryuuichi didn't like it. He never liked anyone he cares about (Even those whom he never really talk much to) faking a smile and hiding whatever was bothering them. It reminded him of his past self. Then again, wasn't he the same now? But still. "Kyoko" He said sternly, making her drop it.

"...... It's just that... Tsuna-kun and the others are hiding something...." He inwardly sighed. So it was about this. "So you felt left out..?" A nod.

"Kyoko.... It's not your fault that you're feeling like that. If it's anyone, they certainly would too. Besides, Tsuna and the others should've told you and Haru..." Ryuuichi huffed. "Don't worry. Tsuna will tell you soon. So, please be patient til then, alright?" He gave her a soft smile as they locked gaze.

Kyoko nodded slowly. Ryuuichi's dark brown eyes gave her the reassurance and vibe of an older brother or sister. For some reason, he made her feel that she can always rely on him if she has any problem. The same feeling that Hana, whom had the older and protective sister's vibe, and Ryohei.

"What about you, Ryuuichi-kun?" Ryuuichi blinked in surprised. "When will you tell us your's?" It was shocking that Kyoko realized that he was hiding things from all of them. Tsuna and the others' were understandable because of his involvement and knowledge and all, but not Kyoko.

He smile turned loop-sided as he hummed. "Not now, but probably soon."

_**Soon.** _

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

The creak of the stretching bow did not hinder Ryuuichi's concentration as he narrowed his eyes on the target. Two arrows rested on the bow before flying off as he released it. One of the arrows hit the target while the other had went off a little. He twitched at that and reached for another two arrows.

He did the same thing as before, shifting the angles til he deemed it was fine and released. This time, both hit the targets. He looked at his gloved hand before taking it off. He slid in the ring he had in his pocket and lit it up, purple flame flaring. A sudden annoyance hit him, resulting the flame grew bigger. His fingers moved, creating and molding the shape of an arrow and made two arrows out of flame.

He position the arrows on the bow again, flame still flaring on his ring, and released. For some reason, the purple flaming arrows flared even more a second before it hit the targets, successfully burning it. 'Shit!' The impact was somehow stronger than he had expected, resulting a small tremor. It would probably be stronger if there weren't those.. Coating on the walls.

He sweated at the still burning targets, wondering what should he do. 'Can it be extinguished by water..?' He turned around when he heard the door opening and closing, and saw Yamamoto.

"Geh!"

"Yamamoto? What are you doing here?" He blinked, ignoring the fire. Yamamoto laughed nervously, couldn't believe that Ryuuichi had ignored the fire. "H-hahaha- Umm.. Ryuu? The fire?"

"Ah. Right"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, what's up?" Ryuuichi asked, wiping his forehead. The fire was finally extinguished after quite a while. Please don't ask how they did it.

"Well, I'm taking a break from training as Kozo had told me too" He nodded. That explained why he was wearing his kendo's uniform. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at the sheepish teen, wondering why he looked a little nervous. Ever since his attempt on dying, they had gotten closer, but not too close. But for some reason, Yamamoto would always be a little unsettle when they're alone.

"Why are you so nervous?"

His curiosity shot up when the taller teen flinched. 'Is he scared of me...?' He frowned. He hadn't want them to be afraid of him for whatever reasons they have. He was just, distant. Even if he didn't want to, he had to admit that he is distant towards them, even Yuuichi and his parents in this life. It was simply just his reflexes, personality and how he acts that made him like that, something he had developed in his past life. That, and he never expected it to make people around him uncomfortable. Or, maybe yes.

"H-h-hahah-ah? Am I?"

"Yes"

Yamamoto bit his inner cheeks. He hadn't want to feel nervous, especially around Ryuuichi. He shouldn't. The dark brown hair teen had saved him anyway, in a sense. But he couldn't help but do. For some reason, the vibe Ryuuichi had given him the impression of unapproachable. It wasn't like Gokudera's hostile one, it was more like a cold, yet burning fire. Despite the warmth and caring character he had, he was more a loner type, to Yamamoto, of course. Basically, these kind of people were hard for Yamamoto be relaxed around them when they're alone.

Ryuuichi could practically read the teen despite his smiling face, fake one, mind you. He sighed audibly and grabbed Yamamoto's larger, coarse hands. He placed his palms onto the teens' and had it raised up to his shoulder height. Something hummed pleasantly inside his. Yamamoto's hands were warm. He smiled softly at that.

"R-ryuu?"

He ignored the questioning call and observed their hands. Indeed, the latter's hands were bigger than his, fingers longer too. It could probably cover his whole fist. Even though it's rough, it gave a sense of security. He intertwined their hands, finding it nice. It might because he hadn't touch someone other than his brother and Hibari(That, was forced) for quite a while. So, the occasion skin contact is nice.

"Hey" He begin, closing his eyes and focused on the warm. "What do you feel?"

Yamamoto had quite a shock when his hands were grabbed. He almost jumped away if not for the tight grip. Their palms met and he eyes widen, realizing three things. One, Ryuuichi's hands are smaller than his despite the fact that he looked as if he can hold a lot of things there. Two, his palms, even though was rough, was softer than his. Much softer. Lastly, he looked fragile. The soft, warm and smaller hands had made him realized that Ryuuichi wasn't as strong as he looks.

He looked, human.

".... Calm" He, too, closed his eyes, smiling a real smile. "And warm" 'And loved'

Ryuuichi gave a small chuckle, opening his eyes at the same time as Yamamoto. Their eyes met and at that moment, they felt as if they understood each other.

Yamamoto grinned brightly, swore that he will no longer be nervous or afraid of Ryuuichi. That he will protect and lift him up whenever the hard, metal cage breaks.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

_"What matter between friendship and bonds is understanding, and the love between it"_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is quite a short chapter.... For me anyway.
> 
> The parts after Hibari's wasn't there initially, but I wanted the things that I planned on the next chapter, and if I end at Hibari's part, it would be too short.
> 
> The one with Giotto will be revealed in the... Next or two more arcs later..?
> 
> Fun Fact= I wrote Giotto and Hibari's part in school before I wrote it here.
> 
> Fun Fact= The targets that was on fire wasn't even charred. It basically just, burnt. But it was still in tact and usable. And that was the fourth time it had happened.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi's cloud ring almost shattered when he first lit it up. He immediately panicked and extinguished the flame on the ring when he felt a crack. Luckily, it didn't.
> 
> To Yamamoto, Ryuuichi wasn't like a human at all. To him, he was like a perfect, unreachable being.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spellings, etc. etc. mistakes]


	21. Attack

"Vooiiii! What are you doing here?" Ryuuichi rubbed his ears at the loud voice. Seriously, even with the volume at it's lowest, Squalo is still very loud. Not to mention obnoxious too. "The prince was bored and came to bug you!"

"If you interrupt me again, I'll kill you!" "Wanna try?" He shook his head at Belphegor and Squalo as the latter tackled the prince down. "I hope we can meet again in this life time! You better make sure you don't die!" That was the last one before it was cut off. Ryuuichi sighed at that and leaned back onto the chair.

He then remembered that the man had said something about further instructions. '.... Could it be...?' Footsteps behind them had he turned his head around. 'I knew it'

Clad in a black suit and trousers with a yellow dress shirt and black tie, an older Ryohei appeared. "Sasagawa Ryohei. Has arrived!" He announced, carrying the unconscious Chrome in his arms. Kusakabe hurriedly carried the girl to the medical room, and asked for Bianchi's aid along the way.

Ryuuichi sighed. Chrome must have been fighting with someone in Kokuyo Land. Must be that, what was his name again? '... Ah. Glo Xinia.. That piece of disgusting shit..' "I hope she'll be fine" He heard Tsuna said.

"Leave it to Bianchi. She will take care of it" "Sawada-san" He turned towards Kusakabe, whom came back with a clothed bundle in his arms. "About Mukuro, it looks like he's inside a box weapon. Are you sure that we don't need to investigate it further?" Tsuna nodded. "Yes, because it belongs to Chrome. She wouldn't like it if we did anything to it without her permission."

That, and he didn't want to invade the girl's privacy. She would probably be more reserved than she is now and he wouldn't want that.

Ryuuichi shook his head at the brunette, though, said nothing as the brunette hoped once again that Chrome to get better soon. He turned towards Ryohei, who was staring at him. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Ryohei turned a little bit flustered and tried to lie his way through. "N-nothing!!" Though, it was obvious he was lying. Well, he couldn't help it anyway. He hadn't saw the older Ryuuichi for a while. His parting words with him had him wondering.

_"Kick his ass if he doesn't fight, Ryohei"_

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

They've decided to gather in the lounge room to discuss. Kyoko, Haru and the children were told to cook for them for they did not want them to be involved in it. Ryuuichi stood by the side, leaning against the wall. "Then I'll say it now. Regarding a certain issue.. I was sent to head towards Varia by the Tenth's orders. At the moment, the hunt for the Vongola had started."

Tsuna's eyes widen. "My order?" "The you, ten years later. The information that you guys were coming over from ten years ago were received by the Varia from a certain information source. I knew about it from there."

"Those who know about it are just some of the survivors of the Vongola members and the top-level Alliance families."

"Alliance families. Does that include Dino-san's Cavallone Family?" Ryohei nodded, sneaking glances at Ryuuichi. "Yeah, they're still doing well there" He smiled at the younger teen's relieve. He turned towards all of them, serious.

"Then, assuming that you guys are really here, the family has planned for a large-scale attack the instructions to us down here is this;

Five days later, destroy the Milliefiore's branch facilities in Japan."

Ryuuichi sighed. Finally, it's going to begin soon.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm coming in" Ryuuichi softly said and walked into the room. He cast a worried glance at Chrome before turned to stare at her bag. He narrowed his eyes and walked closer. He stopped in front of it and peered into the bag, not touching it at all.

Inside, he saw the beeping tracker.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Thank you, Giannini" Ryuuichi said as he inspected the ring. He smiled, satisfied at the outcome. "Sorry for keeping you up so late"

"No, it's alright" He smiled sheepishly. He hadn't want to trouble the engineer but he had to wait til all of them were asleep to do it. "But.. Is it alright? Didn't Hibari-san said that you couldn't join the fight?" He shrugged.

"He did, but I don't care. He can't strap me down" He smirked. "And besides, I might find something in it" He took the transmitter and had it on. He nodded in approval, feeling comfortable with it. "Thank you again" Giannini smiled. He was very glad that Ryuuichi liked it. When he was making them, the teen had approached him and asked him to make extras for him. Let's just say, he was very reluctant but Ryuuichi plead him to.

He wondered why had the teen wanted to join the bloody battle when he had a choice not to. This wasn't-and isn't- his battle, so why- Giannini decided not to question much about Ryuuichi's action. The last time he did, he ended up with a major headache that wouldn't go away until hours later.

"You can connect and disconnect to the others' transmitter with this button" He explained as Ryuuichi listened tentatively. "And, this is an extra," He gave him a pair of black goggles. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow and picked it up, inspecting it. "What's this?"

"Well, this is a goggles that can let you see in dark places by pressing that button, it's a prototype though." "So you want me to test it out for you?" He wore it and pressed the small, white button he found. He whistled, impressed when he looked at the dark hallway.

"Yes, if it doesn't trouble you much" He chuckled, taking it off.

"No problem. I can do it. To return the favors" He looked at his watch and nodded to Giannini. "Well then, I better go get ready. Thank you once again and have a good night, Giannini!"

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi looked up to the wall as he strapped the gun hoist around his right thigh. He winced a little, feeling it a little too tight but paid not much heed to it. He could practically hear, and feel little vibrations against the wall. He stood up, smirking with his bow and arrows slung against his shoulder. It suddenly stopped, before loud explosions were heard.

'It's time'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

"What's this place" One man said as the others descended from the holes they had blasted. "This is a huge room" Another said. Suddenly, metal rods forming grills to cover the holes appeared, trapping them. "W-what?!" "Suddenly we're cornered?!"

"You fell for it" Shoes tapped against the glowing rods as a certain man stood on it. He dropped the tracker. "This is.. Glo Xinia's planted transmitter!"

"Only the weak huddle up together" Hibari said, blood lust tinted in his voice. "I'll bite you all to death, you sewer rats" He raised his right tonfa and lit up his flame. Bright purple flames flared from his tonfa as two hedgehogs floated behind him.

"I-it's a trap!!" He smirked at the panicked weaklings only to narrow his eyes at one of them. "You damn Vongola!" "Vongola? You're wrong" He wanted to laugh at the futile attempts and useless exclamations of power. As if they can escape. "I don't have time to play along with you guys" His hedgehogs moved down, passing through the grills.

The hedgehogs then became bigger and bigger, the spikes grew larger. Shouts of horror and death resonated the whole place.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto ran. The alarm beeped through the whole place. "What's going on?!" Yamamoto said, his weapon slung against his shoulder. "This isn't just random alarm."

"And, starting the operation so suddenly.. This wasn't what we planned!" Tsuna said. And then, he heard Reborn's voice through his head phone. "It's an enemy raid." "Reborn!"

"It seems like the Milliefiore troops have invaded the storage room that's 2km away. Looks like it's a considerable force." Giannini filled them.

"Hibari has already gone to meet them" Tsuna frowned. "Hibari-san? There's too many enemies. It'll be impossible by himself! We have to go there too!"

Suddenly, Ryohei appeared beside him and was running too. "We must not! If we do that, it would be pointless for Hibari to be there" That, and that the older Ryuuichi would kick him if he doesn't. "That can't be"

"A great number of Milliefiore's troops have assembled there. By having Hibari face them all by himself, there will be fewer troops outside and at their hideout" Still, Tsuna didn't want to leave Hibari facing the enemies along. Even if the man is very strong, he still couldn't help but be worried. He stopped running, hesitating, as the others, too, stopped.

Their transmitter buzzed a little before a voice was heard. "Hello, can all of you hear me?" The brunette blinked in surprise. "Ryuuichi?!" A laugh was heard. "Morning, Tsunayoshi" He could hear taps and rustles through the transmitter and frowned. Is Ryuuichi running? "Right, getting to the point, Hibari won't be alone"

Reborn raised an eyebrow and gave Giannini a look when he heard Ryuuichi's voice. Ryuuichi on the other hand, was running through a tunnel, to the storage room where Hibari and the enemies were. A hand was pressed against his ear, where the transmitter was as he turned a corner.

"What!?" He chuckled at the shocked tone. "What do you mean?!" "Like I said, Hibari won't be alone. I'll be there to assist him" 'Well, it's not like he needed it anyway'

"B-but didn't Hibari-san- He-"

"As if I will listen to him" Ryuuichi scoffed. "Anyways, don't worry too much and go for it, alright? He'll be alright" He smiled at the sight of the storage room. "But....!" "Yeah yeah, suck it up. Be careful alright!" He pressed the button and disconnect the line. He place a hand on the wall and felt vibrations. He took a deep breathe, and pushed open a hole, silently thanking Giannini who told him the secret tunnel and the secret entrance.

He climbed into the room, starting on the goggles after sealing off the entrance again. He looked around and was impressed. Holes adorned the walls around the room, dead man in black and white all around with almost half of them still alive. It was quite bloody though. Then, he saw a bright purple flame in the middle of the crowd. He geh-ed a little when he saw the man glaring at him. "Shiroki Ryuuichi. What are you doing here"

Yep, Hibari is angry.

"Ahh, well, I'm going to help you..?" He said, ignoring the fact that they weren't paying attention at the enemies. He jumped a few feet away when a blue blur shot pass him. He grabbed the metal bow on his shoulder and lit up his Cloud ring. The flame coated the blades by the end of the bow as he clucked his tongue. "Don't you know interrupting someone who's having a conversation is rude?" He spun around bringing up his weapon before slashing it down, cutting the one who had interrupted him with the blade.

He huffed and turned back towards Hibari, not even panicked that he had just killed someone. Hibari raised an impressed eyebrow at the teen who had just ended someone's life for the first time without even batting an eye. "Wao" But then, he narrowed his eyes at the shaking hands. Ryuuichi was shaken. Definitely. Nervous, even. Though, the teen had stomped down the feeling and stayed indifferent.

Ryuuichi sauntered towards Hibari, carefully not stepping on the bodies as their enemies watched, guarded. He gave the man a smirk. "Shall we?" Hibari returned his, getting ready to fight, focusing on taking down most of them. Despite the fact that he hadn't want the teen to fight, let alone after he had actually killed someone, but he knew that Ryuuichi would definitely not back down.

He inwardly sneered at that.

He faced the weaklings and glared at them before attacking them. Ryuuichi sighed at the man's behavior. He knew, saw, the man's annoyance on his stubbornness but he doubt that Hibari would want a different him. He clenched and unclenched his hand, taking deep breathes. He opened his closed eyes, silently thanking that it's monotonous through the goggles. He certainly was taken away in horror when he end one's life. His heart was beating very hard against his ribs as if it would jump out any seconds.

Though, he felt little to nothing of all but fear and horror. Despite all that, he didn't regret killing someone. Realization dawned him as he scowled. Perhaps it's because he's in the future, they're in the future and that when he goes back to the past- present for him- the ones he killed will still be alive. (He burnt off the nagging feeling deep in his core of the familiar sensation of killing)

Ryuuichi immediately broke his train of thoughts and jumped away again when a weapon, katana, slashed down just in front of him. He huffed, pulling on the string of the bow as a purple flaming arrow formed. He eyed the katana guy (Really, this dude was shaming the title as a swordman.) and a few more at the back. '...5' He aimed at the man and released in split seconds.

As the arrow shot through the air, it multiplied into 6 arrows and hit right at their heart, instantly ending their lives. He then spun around and again, bringing his weapon up and slash downwards as another one tried to assault him from behind. Condolences were whispered as he did. He took in a shaky breathe and harden his heart along with his resolve again.

'I'll not back down... Not now... Not when it's so close...'

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi panted and gripped onto his knees, bent over. His nerves had been on the edge ever since the fight started, which explained his shaking hands. He sighed in temporary relief, when a metal tonfa bonked him on his head, making him yelped aloud. "Ouch!"

He rubbed his sore head and turned around, standing straighter. He pouted at the man. "Did I not told you to not join the fight, Shiroki Ryuuichi" Hibari said menacingly, raising his tonfa up. Ryuuichi gulped and raised his hands. The man took a step forward as he took a step back, again, again and again until his back hit the wall.

"W-wait- I- Umm-" Hibari glared at him as he closed his eyes tightly. He stared at the teen for a long full minute. Even though he hadn't want to admit it, he was afraid for the teen when he had waltzed into the fight. He was afraid for the teen when he had killed someone. He remembered when the Ryuuichi in this parallel world had took someone's life, when a traitor whom were set to exterminate him but had failed miserably for he was killed by Ryuuichi before he managed to even touch him, were shaken for two whole weeks.

The first, he was both aggressive and empty. He would take longer showers and would come out with his skin red and raw from all the scrubbing. He was almost in a trance every day that week where he would ignore most of them and not talk for the whole time. They (Hibari and the others) kept talking to him, hoping to break him out of his trance but failed and settled in staying by his side. That week, they never left Ryuuichi alone.

On the second week, Ryuuichi was evidently back to his usual self, though, not fully. He would flinch whenever someone reaches out to touch him and would be very guarded whenever he was out of his comfort zone. Hibari remembered that he had to literally hold onto him for almost 35 hours until he was finally- _finally_ \- able to get a hold of himself and move on. Even though it was just two weeks, it was a long one. They weren't all too used to Ryuuichi's odd behaviors and were greatly uncomfortable, despite the fact that the usual Ryuuichi was a weird one.

But then, just now, when he saw the teen- younger than the Ryuuichi of this parallel world when he had his first kill- took their enemies down and could still stand properly, not, broken, he realized that Ryuuichi had his priorities. If he could, he wouldn't kill. But if he couldn't, for the sake of his friends, or families, or his answers and wants, he would. Despite the fact that he had known him for quite a long time, he had just realized it. The side of Ryuuichi's that he had never seen before, or perhaps, he hadn't noticed them.

After all, Ryuuichi never really voice out his wants, or feelings much anyway.

".... Are you alright" Grey eyes met dark brown ones when Ryuuichi cracked his closed eyes open, which was blinking in slight surprise. ".. A little disbelieved, but I'm alright" Hibari narrowed his eyes, trying to search for regrets and fear in those eyes but found little to none. ".... Weren't you afraid?" Ryuuchi took a shaky breathe and clenched his shaking hands, willing it to stop.

Of course he was afraid. Hell, he even almost shitted the living hell out of himself, well, not literally. Perhaps it's because this is the future, and if someone in the future dies, they'll still live in the past- present for him-, that he didn't really feel much when he killed those men. Sure, he felt uncertain, fear and horror but that's just that.

To be told the truth, he hadn't expected that he would actually, really, kill someone. The thought of it didn't even cross his mind once in his past life. Not even when he came into this world. Nope, not even once. But when he realization and acceptation finally dawned him of the fact that he's really in this world, and that he had taken in the fact that he wasn't dreaming, and decided that he would get involved in the mafia, he knew that he was to kill someone sooner or later. So, he decided to have it now and not stall it. (He stomped down the feeling of familiarity when he had took one's life, refusing it)

"Of course I am" He said nothing afterwards and engaged into a staring contest with Hibari. The man bonked his forehead lightly and turned away, but not before patting him briefly on the head. He stared at his back in surprise.

"Let's go. We don't have much time"

Ryuuichi smiled, and followed the man closely.

\------------------------ **Bonus** \----------------------------

When Hibari saw Ryuuichi spinning and slashing, shooting down his enemies here and there, and jumping here and there, he saw a pair of appendage on the teen's back. His eyes widen and blinked again, only to find it disappeared.

Perhaps it's a trick of light, but for a split second, he thought he saw a pair of wings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last part before the bonus was actually done about 20 minutes ago but I accidentally pressed the back button and it was gone orz. I've skipped most of the part as there weren't much plans I have for it. And I felt that it was quite boring.
> 
> The Future Ryuuichi actually meant his younger self, but Tsuna would do as much.
> 
> Ryuuichi had asked Giannini to place the Mammon Chain cover on the ring he had received from Tsuna and Yuuichi for he felt the power from it, but it was sealed by something.
> 
> Those arrows formed from Cloud flames can propagate and multiply, which create the consecutive shots.
> 
> I accidentally mixed up chapter 20 and chapter 21 just now. Damn.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	22. Irritation

Tsuna felt that 50 years of his life has been taken away when they were almost roasted by the lasers. No doubt about it. He couldn't describe the relief he had when they weren't, but it was short lived as they met with a bulky guy holding a remote. (For some reason, he could hear the sound of disgust and annoyance from Ryuuichi)

"If I remember correctly, word has it that the Vongola Tenth's group were also a bunch of brats" Tsuna and the others tensed up upon that. "But those guys are now under attack, being beaten up to pulp. You can't be them" The brunette felt like facepalming at that man. But at least they haven't been found out by the enemies.

"Then that means... You're nothing more than ordinary folks" This time, Tsuna felt like falling onto the ground and done with the world. As if they're simply 'ordinary folks'. Like hell they were, (un)fortunately (for Tsuna). "Well, that's not wrong" Yamamoto said, a bit taken away at the idiocy.

"He's not too smart, is he?" Sasagawa added but was retorted by Gokudera. "Quiet. We might be able to trick him" Or not.

"Oh well. Thanks to you I get to try out my newly arrived weapon!" That bulky guy said, quite enthusiastically. "Live humans are the best for testing out new weapon." He inserted his lightning flame into this box connected to the weapon and started it up. Tsuna and the other gasped upon the sight of green lightning flames on the weapon before they were shot.

Dust flew about as smoke surrounded them. "This thing is quite powerful. It seems I'll be able to use it. There won't be any bones left." Oh how wrong is he. As the smoke started to disperse, a shadow figure stood up.

"Who did that just now?" That was Yamamoto, then followed by Lal Mirch, Ryohei, Tsuna and Gokudera. It wasn't from any of the former three. "It was me" Gokudera said, holding a box triumphantly. The smoke dispersed fully and they were all one piece and dandy. Tsuna thanked the bomber for saving their lives in which the bomber said that this level was simply nothing.

"W-what!?"

"What did you just do?" Yamamoto asked. "I can't let the Baseball-Idiot to be the only cool one." Gokudera scoffed. "Move out of the way, you useless Macho. We don't have time to play with you." That enraged the man. "U-useless?! Damn you brat! You don't even know a thing about me!!" The man lit up his ring again and inserted it into a separated box. A lance coated with Lightning flame appeared.

"This guy.. Holds the title of Arattaco, Dendro Chilum of Heavy Assault infantry." Tsuna blinked at Ryohei's explaination. He didn't understood the word Arattaco and was enlightened by Lal Mirch. A top lancer? He certainly doesn't seem like one though, no offense. The brunette paled when Ryohei said that the man skewered his comrades along with his enemies. That meant this man will still kill you whoever you are. Tsuna definitely do not like this kind of person. He paled even further when Lal Mirch spoke.

"Among the Milliefiore's lancers, he's the most skillful. I've heard that his lance is coated with the Lightning box's 'Solidifying' characteristic... So there's nothing it cannot pierce through"

That, was certainly troublesome. (Though, if Ryuuichi was present to hear Lal Mirch's assumptions, he would certainly snort, hard) They have just one chance to win this battle, but before they could do anything, Dendro attacked. "Colpo Elettro Shock!" He stabbed his lance coated with lightning flame and smirked. Poor him for underestimating them.

When he tried to pull his lance away, he couldn't. Why? Because a certain brunette was holding it. Tsuna, who was in Hyper Dying Will Mode had stopped the lance with simply one hand, the sharp tip had split. "Did you not hear us?" Slight venom was dripping in his voice.

"We don't have time to play with you"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

After their first fight with Dendro, they had encountered with Ginger Bread. That damned magician's doll had not only taunted and injured Lal Mirch, but also criticized Collonello, along with Viper. That, was the last straw for the woman. Memories of the past had haunted her like a broken record. The fated day, the moment Colonello jumped in and tried to help her but failed, the moment they all, the I Prescelti Sette, including Colonello, had turned into infants, and the moment that she didn't stop him. They all haunted her.

"He was just a useless busybody" Lal Mirch gritted her teeth at that. "The reason your pacifier became corrupted was also because he failed to safe you, right? Mr Backfire, that Colonello." She had enough of Ginger Bread. She had enough of his words. She pushed herself up, despite the pain. "Take that... Back!"

Her dark, corrupted pacifier in her hand. 'Colonello, I'm sorry' She gasped as the pain doubled, her scar on her cheeks grew. The pacifier slowly glowed in bright blue and changed into the pacifer of the Rain Arcobaleno. 'Forgive me.... I don't think I can comply with your wishes.'

The face of Colonello appeared in her mind. "It's your choice, either take that insult back to Colonello or die, Ginger Bread!" If the magician's doll had done any mistakes, was that he had riled up Lal Mirch, and underestimated her. He snapped his finger and waited for his box weapon to kill Lal Mirch, but nothing happened.

The blue light slowly disappeared, but Lal Mirch was still alive there. "You're right, I'm a defective version" She spoke, surprising both Tsuna and the others and Ginger Bread. He snapped his fingers a few more times but nothing happened.

"When I was infected with the incomplete curse, my constitution went through an abnormal transformation. Even the original energy wave flowing through my body was changed to the Mist and Cloud attributes. But this pacifier cannot be changed. This blue pacifier wasn't supposed to be Colonello's, it was supposed to be mine."

"It releases flames, in exchange for my life! The attribute is, Rain!" Blue, Dying Will Flame flared from her body. The spiders on her left arm slowly dropped onto the ground. The Rain's tranquility had stopped the activation of the sun attribute spiders from hatching and maturing. It wasn't a box weapon, but Lal Mirch herself, something that wouldn't happen to other people.

"An Arcobaleno's constitution differs from yours. This body burdened with this fate... No one could understand the agony and despair. Had I become an Arcobaleno back then, the damage to my soul would have caused me to choose the same path as Viper did in the end."

"But because Colonello was there... Because Colonello was there... I continued to live! It was because of him I continued to live" 'Colonello..' Tears started streaming down. 'Ever since you went away, I've felt nothing but regret!' She regretted not stopping him. She regretted everything. Her constant hope for him were nothing but impossible wishes. It pains her greatly that all she wanted to do was just rip out her own heart.

Colonello wasn't just a savior to her. He was...

She hooked her pacifier onto a string and looped it onto her neck. "Ginger... The one who is going to die is you!"

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

After Lal Mirch's fight with Ginger Bread, with her as the victor, they had moved to destroy the surveillance system, which was successful. Tsuna had separated from them, replacing the worn and injured Lal Mirch as a decoy to hold back the enemies.

He had fought with a few mosca and had defeated them with X Burner; Air. But, unfortunately(Or not) he had fell unconscious. Spanner, who was inside one of the mosca, was intrigued by his power, and his strength, had not killed him and brought him to his lab.

Spanner had wanted to see the completed version of X Burner and had helped him. Tsuna was reluctant for him to but Reborn had ended up agreeing on it. Spanner then went to work and made a pair of contact lens for him, as a navigation and pointer for him when he wanted to use X Burner. Tsuna had trained himself by fighting moscas in this virtual space the man had created.

That, which in turn, had labeled Spanner as the traitor. Iris and her servants, monster, was sent to kill both Tsuna and the traitor. Tsuna was disgusted at the fact that the shrewd woman had turned those once humans, into a mindless, senseless monster whom would only listen to her commands. And because of that, he had destroyed them, along with another three more vents with his completed X Burner.

The others, on the other hand, had encountered Baishana who was fighting with Nigella, someone from Black Spell. The latter was killed by the White Spell member in which, they had to fight him. Baishana fought with Ryohei and had lost. Apparently, he wasn't as strong as most would think. He turned out to be a coward and tried to run away when the tables turned, leaving his box weapon behind.

And then, they were promptly separated into two, again. Ryohei with Gokudera while Yamamoto with the unconscious Lal Mirch on his back.

The first group had then met Gamma and fought. Ryohei was defeated, in which Gokudera took over with his completed CIA system. He and Gamma fought tooth and nail. As for Yamamoto and Lal Mirch, they had met with a White Spell Milliefiore member, which turned out to be two instead of one. They were the Arachide Brothers. Of course, it was a tough fight but the baseball star won, nonetheless. He almost go on a full on brawl with Nosaru but the base were moved for the nth time.

As he ended up in a room full with water, he had met one of the Funeral Wreaths, Genkishi. The swordman's killer intent hurts much more than when Reborn had released his (Well, the Arcobaleno had go easy on him after all). When they fought, he had continuously using each of the Shigure Soen Ryu's form and was on the winning side.

Until, he was tricked by an illusion. The impact against the wall was so hard that it had rendered him immobile. Apparently, they weren't fighting in an open space, but one with randomly shaped and placed walls, all covered by Genkishi's mist flame. That had certainly injured him. Both physically and mentally. It frustrated him to no end but, he had lost.

Lal Mirch, whom had regained conscious, had tried to pull him away from Genkishi as the man prepared to kill him. She used his box weapon to pull him towards her, but it was a futile attempt because the men had cut her box weapon. She passed out once more as fatigue took over.

Yamamoto knew at the point, that he was going to die. Tsuna, Reborn, Gokudera, Ryohei, the girls and the children had flashed in his mind. He had failed.

Genkishi raised his sword up. "Vongola Rain Guardian. I will pay you my respect, by laying you to rest with my swords strongest attack. Farewell" He swung down his sword, but stopped short when the wall cracked, and crumbled down. His eyes widen as a certain man and a teen along with a large spinning ball of spikes appeared from it.

"Ah you, how convenient" The cloud attribute ring shattered. "The white round device should be right ahead, huh?"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

If there's anything Ryuuichi wanted to do, was to facepalm so hard that he would bruised himself. Despite knowing the grand entrance Hibari would make, he couldn't help but felt slightly embarrassed.

"I'll ask you once more. Is the round, white device up ahead?" Hibari asked- no- demanded. "Vongola Cloud Guardian, Hibari Kyouya, huh?" He narrowed his eyes at that. Ryuuichi without a word walked towards Lal Mirch and inspected her. He knelt beside her as he watched the two's exchanges. Their surrounding turned into a forest looking one, as the teen whistled, impressed. Hibari's box weapon shrunk, and went back to it's box.

The Cloud guardian hummed. "It looks like you're a Mist Illusionist." Ryuuichi silently scoffed. "I don't hold a grudge against you personally, however, I despise illusionist. Therefore, I want to make you bow at my feet." He slid in a ring and flared it up. Ryuuichi blinked at the intensity of the flame. Perhaps his lost in the fight with Mukuro really scarred him so deep that he had built up a hatred towards those kind of people.

'How unsurprising...'

"Hibari Kyouya. Rumour has it that you're the Vongola's strongest guardian. I'll see for myself if that's the truth or not." Genkishi declared. Hibari's smirk dropped when his flame waved a little, knowing something was coming directly at him. He jumped away split seconds before something hit him. He focused on his flame again, and had a shield up.

Genkishi unsheathed two of his swords and rushed forward as Hibari landed onto the ground with grace. He stood up straight when the swordman suddenly disappeared. His flame flared bigger and raised his Cloud flame coated tonfa above his head. Genkishi's sword came in contact with the tonfa.

He was surprised that Hibari knew where he was coming to him as he widen his eyes. "I've learnt a lot about illusions. Since I hate them so much" Hibari's box weapon suddenly hit him out of nowhere, before it was torn apart.

Genkishi jumped away and something black attached to his leg and hung him upside down. "I see. You're good. You could prove be a worthy rival"

"I wonder about that.. You can't become a worthy rival that easily" Hibari's box weapon went back into it's box. "Are you even qualified for it? We'll see after I've undone your mist illusion." If Hibari have to say, there were only a handful of people whom he had deemed, and qualified as a rival to him. That teen's older version was, and still is one of them.

He inserted his flame into two box as two hedgehog rushed out, hitting the wall of illusion. Hibari, on the other hand had rushed forward with his flame coated tonfa. "Your illusions uses the imagination in the mind to make it appear in real life" He jumped up the spiked clouds, towards where Genkishi was. "What if my attacks were to pressure you enough to break your concentration?"

He and Genkishi came in contact as the latter detached himself from the black thing to avoid a direct hit. The two fought up in the air. How they did it was a mystery.

On the ground, Ryuuichi had his sun attribute ring out as he tried to heal both Yamamoto and Lal Mirch. Really, having to heal two people at once was tiring. He believed that he won't have any more energy for later fights, if this keep up. Well, as if he was needed to fight.

He watched the two men's fight, really, really taken away by the sight. Above them, Hibari's hedgehogs was tearing apart the illusion. The two exchanged a blow as they crossed path as Genkishi landed on the wall and Hibari landing on the ground near him. He was a little baffled about how he was that easily forgotten by the two man, slightly offended even. But he did nothing and continued on healing the two unconscious ones.

"It seems it's starting to fall apart. This is your box weapon.." He looked up towards where Hibari was looking at, and saw things dropping out of it. He cringed in disgust, feeling his mild OCD case kicking up. He then saw those things formed a shape of a certain mollusks. Slug. How remarkably disgusting.

"Those are Spettro Nudibranchi. You're the first to see it's true form. And also the last human who ever will." Right, they were officially ignoring him. Great. Ryuuichi rolled his eyes but frowned at the sight of those slugs. His jaw dropped when they suddenly faced upright, and wiggling. They disappeared mid air as they were rushing towards Hibari.

The man quickly slid in another ring, replacing the shattered one and jumped away with the help of his flaring flame. The impact was near Ryuuichi and the other two, but fortunately, the teen had a cloud flame shield up. He sighed in relief but still didn't drop the shield, for it hadn't end.

Hibari's flame waved again and the two hedgehogs rushed in and acted as a shield for him before returning to its' boxes. "I get it now. You're using the ring's flame to act as a radar. By emitting the Cloud's flame as weak heat to the surroundings, you used the reflected vibrations to detect the position of the unseen Spettro Nudibranchi."

Ryuuichi sighed. 'No shit, Sherlock' He harden his stare on Hibari, knowing what he would do next. 'Hibari.......'

The man slid in three rings, and flared them up. "I'll bite you to death" Genkishi tensed up at the sight of Hibari using three cloud rings at once. 'What is he trying to do?'

Hibari inserted his flames into a box, forcing all of them into it. "It's difficult to inject a huge amount of flame into the box without killing it." The box started to glow and cracked. The box shattered and a hedgehog glowed on Hibari's hands. Hibird flew out from his pocket.

"Reverse Needle Sphere" A sphere appeared, grew and engulfed both Genkishi and Hibari, leaving the teen and the two unconscious on outside, pushing the Spettro Nudibranchi away.

Ryuuichi sweated at the large sphere. Even though he knew that it was large, he had never expected it to be  _this_  large. He frowned at the sound of metal clashing together. 'Be careful, Hibari...' He looked up and saw Hibird flying about above the sphere, glanced back towards the sphere before down towards Yamamoto and Lal Mirch. He clicked his tongue, annoyed by the fact that he couldn't interfere.

'It's not that I wouldn't.... It's just that I can't......'

He hated it when all he can do was just spectate and watch his friends fighting and wounded. It reminded him of how useless he was, and still is. The memories of the time that  _she_  couldn't help  _him_. 'If I did that time......' He gritted his teeth. His breathe suddenly hitched, his flames running low.

'Not yet...' He took deep breathes and waited. Even though it pains him, all he could now was just wait. (After all, he was not needed to interfere)

He waited in silence until the sphere started to crack. 'Shit!' He pulled up the shield again as it started to crumble down. Dust flew about as a man stood, stumbling a little, Genkishi.

Genkishi panted hard, thinking that he had killed the Vongola's Cloud Guardian. But how wrong was he. He snapped his head towards the coughing teen, narrowing his eyes. 'Since when was he there?'

Ryuuichi coughed again, waving the dust away. He cracked an eye open and sighed in relief for the other two were safe. He looked towards Genkishi and gave him an arched eyebrow. He paid not much heed to the man as Hibird suddenly sung the Namimori Middle School's anthem. He watched as the bird flew down and landed on a finger. A smirk found it's way onto his lips. 'He's here'

A yawn was heard and the debris moved as a teen pushed himself up. "What a drag.... Who are you?" And in all his glory, the younger Hibari smirked, Hibird on his finger as his Vongola ring glinted. "Do you know what happen to someone who disturbs my sleep?"

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

If there was one thing that Ryuuichi could never understand, was the fact that most of them liked to make grand entrances and/or attacks. He don't know how many times he had wanted to facepalm until his face caved in. Genkishi had made illusions-but-will-still-kill-you-illusions of booms, all targeted towards the younger Hibari as the whole place turned into another scenery. Perhaps it was one of their perks but he generally felt that illusionist likes to make everything very exaggerated.

Those bombs turned invisible and rushed towards Hibari. It didn't hit him though, for a certain bomber's CAI system had helped him. Ryuuichi turned towards the direction of an amused scoff and blinked. 'Ah right. Yato.' "I've returned the favor. But I guess you wouldn't like it"

Kusakabe was holding up an unconscious Ryohei, and a heavily injured Gokudera. On his back, was Lambo and I-Pin. Chrome stood behind him with Mukurowl on her head. Ryuuichi, seeing that Lal Mirch and Yamamoto were already alright, rushed towards them.

"Kyou-san!" Kusakabe gasped at the sight of the younger Hibari. 'His 10 years ago self?' Hibari narrowed his eyes and Genkishi was certainly not impressed, which in turn enraged Gokudera. "You, who are you calling fools-" The bomber winced at the pain despite the fact that Ryuuichi was healing him. "Shut up, Yato"

Ryuuichi helped him and Ryohei onto the ground, glancing towards Chrome who were panting from fatigue. "-ch.." He knew that he wouldn't last long enough to help them both. A hand pushed his away from Gokudera's shoulder. "R-ryuuichi.. D-don't...." He frowned at the bomber. "But-" He gritted his teeth.

He turned back towards Hibari and Genkishi, giving a glare to the latter.

"Kusakabe Tetsuya" The said man flinched at the venom dripping voice. "How dare you make a crowd in front of me? I want you to withdraw from the Disciplinary Committee" Ryuuichi sighed at that. "Now's not the time, Hibari" The glare were then directed towards him but he simply shrugged it.

"Kyou-san, use the ring flame! Counterattack him with your box!" Hibari twitched a little. "The ring flame? Box?"

"That's right! The ring flame!" "I don't know what the box you're talking about is. However" Despite the fact that Kusakabe had somewhat one way or another gave him order, he briefly remembered a certain mafia boss telling him about the flame. Dino had brief him about the Bronco pestering him and nagging him about the importance of the ring in future mafia battle, this and that and blah blah blah.

Even though he didn't want to keep the ring, nor that he needed it, that damned Bronco had forced him to keep it. Though, it did intrigued him that such a simple thing could hold such power. He stared at the ring, and slowly, it glowed in bright purple.

Cloud flame flared brightly from the ring, making most of them gasp. He looked towards the children. (Despite the fact that he was a demon, he would still care about those innocent-yet-not-so-innocent child) "There was no need for you people to come" (Ryuuichi snickered at that.)

"Kyou-san, the box! Focus the flames into the thing close to your feet!" He grunted. "Since when are you allowed to give me orders, Kusakabe Tetsuya. I definitely must bite you to death first" But despite that, it was somewhat an empty threat. Even he knew that this wasn't the time for all this.

Something invisible had hit him. Fortunately, he had blocked it just in time after Chrome's warning. But then, she collapsed, fatigue finally took over. It irked Hibari that these people had helped him. He didn't need their help, nor will he ever.

"Comrades? Who are those?" His sharp grey eyes narrowed at Genkishi. His flame flared even more, annoyance and anger filling him up. "It's just as the Bronco said, to increase the size of the flame, is the same as..."

'Wait for it...' Ryuuichi grinned.

"Be pissed off" He burst out laughing so hard that he ended up rolling on the floor. Genkishi and Kusakabe was baffled. Ryuuichi hit the ground a few times, trying to control his laughter as his whole body shook. Perhaps to others, that would be wrong. But if one understood and knew Hibari for a long time, they would know that the prefect's resolutions hid in his irritation and anger. As the aloof, drifting cloud whom no one could bind, nor stop, what he felt irritating would be the core to lit up his determination to destroy it.

'But still....' Ryuuichi laughed again.

Hibari picked up the Box from the ground. "Vice-Chairman. I'll defeat the swordman first. I'll trust your advice. I've seen how it's conducted" He injected the flame into the box, surprising both Kusakabe and Genkishi. It was the first time they've seen such a powerful flame being injected into a box weapon before. For Genkishi, despite it being the second, it was much more impressive than when the older Hibari had done.

The box shook, and a hedgehog dropped out of the ground.

'That's... Kyou-san's original hedgehog cloud box. B-but...' The hedgehog tried to stood but fell back down. 'W-what on earth is this? C-could it be that the hedgehog is having trouble consuming such a huge amount of flame? No way.. Our final ray of hope'

Ryuuichi was squealing internally at the cute little animal, though he kept a indifferent face outside. He finally snapped out of it when Hibari knelt down, and reached out a hand towards it. "Oh crap" He quickly grabbed Gokudera and slung him onto his back, and hurriedly grabbed both Lal Mirch and Yamamoto. He ushered Kusakabe to grab the rest, making him confused.

"Just grab them-!" He turned around when he heard the shriek of the hedgehog, and paled at the speed of it propagating. "Hurry up!! It's going berserk!!!" He quickly ran towards the exit with Kusakabe behind him, spheres of sharp spikes behind them.

"Hibari! Dammit just suck it up and let's go!!" One of the sphere had pierced through a wall, creating a path for them. They quickly ran into a large space, Hibari had helped Ryuuichi by carrying Gokudera, much to his chagrin.

"I never expected, one day I'd have to run away with the tail between my legs" Ryuuichi couldn't help but scoffed.

"So you wanna die in there?" He laughed out loud despite the situation they were in but stopped short when the exit were sealed. The entrance too.

"We've been trapped." The wall suddenly enclosed on them, moving closer and closer. "At this rate, we'll be crushed to death" It was a trap. Ryuuichi knew about it though, and that they wouldn't die. That's for sure.

He knelt down and gave the two children a kind smile. "Don't worry. We won't die" That, for some reason, had calmed them down a little. Somehow, he gave out a comforting aura that promised them that he will protect them. They quickly clung onto his trousers as he had told them too and quickly moved back until their backs hit the wall.

There's no escape at all. Ryuuichi frowned. He knew that they wouldn't die, but he didn't know what would happen next. He caught something through the corner of his eyes and looked towards the edge of the room. Gas were sprayed out as he quickly covered his nose and mouth.

'Ahh... So that's how' And then, he fell unconscious.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

_"If only I've never met you before..."_

_'I'm sorry.... If only I just try harder to help you.....'_

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

_-Bonus_ -

Reborn let out about one eight of his killer intent. " **Giannini**......" The said engineer flinched and started shaking, hard. He fell out of his chair and shrieked. "R-r-reborn-san! W-w-wait- I- He- W-"

A sadistic smirk tugged on the Arcobaleno's lips. Leon changed into a gun and was on his hand. His eyes were shadowed by his fedora and his gun glinted.

When he lifted up his head, the engineer eyes widen in fear at the black orbs that were staring down at him, full with painful promises.

" ** _Welcome to hell~_** "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for such a boring chapter but I didn't know how to skip all those. It felt a bit weird if I did.
> 
> The next chapter might be the last one for this arc, before I continue on with the next one, The Arcobaleno Trial Arc.
> 
> The she was Ryuuichi's past self, and he, well, I might reveal it later on. It wasn't anything major tho. I had just put it in. Oh and it's related to the last one. And like I've said, it is nothing major so don't brood over it too much. That was just a small part, and cause to Ryuuichi's personality. A very tiny one.
> 
> Again, I apologize for this chapter. The next one would be longer, and well, Ryuuichi-centric again.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	23. Box Weapon

"Their little rampage dealt some serious damage to this base. I used flame retardant nano combat armored walls to trap them then used sleeping gas to knock them out"

Ryuuichi's eyes snapped open at the voice. He was lying on his left side, weapons were taken away. He could still feel the weight of the ring around his neck, which meant that it wasn't taken away other than those A-Ranks one. In front of him was an unconscious Hibari. He silently thanked whoever that had moved them had his back facing them, which meant that he does not need to fake asleep. His eyes brighten a little at the familiar voice.

"Try anything funny, however, and I'll use a different kind of gas on them." One of the Cervello was holding a remote. "Their lives will end with a press of this button." Someone seriously need to give this guy an Oscar. If there wasn't anyone who will, then Ryuuichi would be glad to do it.

"If you wish to save their lives, do as I say, Sawada Tsunayoshi" Tsuna, without any choice, grudgingly lowered his fist and diffused the flame on his fist. And then, a type of gas were sprayed. "Don't panic. I merely neutralized the sleeping gas. Look closely. They should all wake up soon" Ryuuichi took that as the cue, and sprung up, well, not literally. He merely pushed himself up to a sitting position, leaning against a hand.

He and Shoichi briefly locked gaze for a while. He could tell that the man's at the edge as he gave him a mischievious look and smirk. The others slowly started to wake up with Gokudera grunting first. Ryuuichi gaze at them, slightly worried, but much more amused at the situation in hand.

"Guys!" He, and the others turned towards where Tsuna was. "Th-that's... Juudaime!" Gokudera had rushed towards his direction not knowing that he was caged inside a capsule, and hit himself in the face. Ryuuichi snickered at the sight.

"W-what is this?"

"We've been captured" Gokudera hit the wall countless of times, trying to break it but it was a futile attempt. "You're one of the Cervello women! Why are you here?!"

Shoichi turned around, keeping the boss facade that Ryuuichi could easily see through. "Your lives are in our hands. You better not try anything funny."

"We need to talk. Pipe down in there, would you?"

"Talk?! Don't give up that crap after locking us up!" Gokudera trust his fist down to where his box weapon should be, but found that it wasn't there. "What? My box.. And my ring" Ryuuichi placed a firm hand onto his shoulder but said nothing as he locked eyes with Shoichi again, the smirk still present.

Shoichi had ignored it and closed his eyes. "There's no point in resisting. Your ring and box weapon.. Have all being confiscated" His open palm held their rings, glinting. Everyone, other than Ryuuichi, were shocked. "H-how can this be... At this rate.." Kusakabe gasped.

"Sawada!" Lal Mirch yelled, voice strained. "Don't worry about us! Do it!" Ryuuichi looked to the brunette. "Destroy the device with your own hands!" Gokudera continued, telling Tsuna to destroy it as it might bring them back to the past. "You can't" Ryuuichi slapped his own mouth as the words slipped out of it. He and Chrome, who had said the same thing, exchanged a look.

"B-but Ryuuichi!"

The said teen shook his head. He kept his gaze on the brunette and ignored the bomber's protest, and shook his head again.

Tsuna frowned when his eyes met darker brown ones. They were telling to not do it. Not to mention that his Hyper intuition had been ringing this whole time, as if something was amiss. He broke the eye contact and turned towards the round device that had been opened, and gasped.

Inside, their 10 years later selves were there. All in the device. "The future versions..." Horrified, he muttered out. When Shoichi had said that it was a hologram, it didn't do any better to what he was feeling. He felt his mind spinning at the explanation. Questions ran about in his mind, why would their future selves be in it, rather than in the past like what would usually happen, not to mention inside the enemies' technology? And, if he were to destroy it... No. He refused to even think what would happen if he did.

And then, everything was clear. Why were they even be in the future. It was all Shoichi's plan. His flame faded off. "But why? Why would you go so far to bring us to this time? Answer me!"

"You want to know? Of course you do." Shoichi said in a rather exhausted tone. He continued despite the Cervello's protest. "It's quite simple. For Byakuran-san to take over the world and rebuild a new one, he needed the Vongola Rings"

"There are many powerful rings in this world, but the Vongola and Mare Rings are in a class of their own. The seven Vongola Ring, the seven Mare Ring. In addition, there are seven Arcobaleno pacifiers. These sets of seven, totaling twenty-one, are known as the Tri-Ni-Sette. And the one which make up the Tri-Ni-Sette was the foundation of this world."

All that information were hard to digest. They couldn't believed what they've heard, but somehow, they knew what the man had said were the truth. Though, the Arcobaleno, and Ryuuichi, knew that it was the truth, and wouldn't deny it. But despite that, the Arcobaleno only knew to a certain extend, unlike Ryuuichi.

The teen sighed, hoping that they could cut the chase and stop with all the acting, mainly Shoichi's. He was getting a tad bit bored. He watched as Shoichi turned around and left the Cervello to work.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi. Hand over the Sky Ring or you'll be bidding your guardians farewell. They won't be able to survive one breath of this gas."

"Wait, Irie" Reborn called out, stopping the said man's track. "We're not finished here. Something in your story sounded off" Shoichi simply scoffed and continued on.

"Stop trying to buy yourself time. It's useless. You have no choice." One of the Cervello said. "We're not negotiating here. This is an order"

"Hand over the Sky Ring before we count down from three. Or, we'll kill all your guardians" Tsuna frantically pulled off his mittens. "W-wait! Hold on! Aren't you Cervello?! Why are you on Milliefiore's side?! Tell me"

They ignored the brunette and started counting down. The others had told Tsuna not to, and leave them behind but how could he? How could he leave his comrades, his friends, behind? No, he couldn't, and never will. Not after all they had been through. "One" He gasped, watched as the Cervello moved to press the button.

But, she didn't. She groaned, hand slacken on the remote as it fell down. "Irie...Sama..?" They both fell down. The man behind them were holding a gun, which were smoking. There weren't any sound of gunshots, which meant that it was attached with a silencer.

"Don't think too badly of me. I'm just putting you to sleep for now" Everyone stared in silence, wondering what had just happen. Shoichi dropped the gun and adjusted his uniform, complaining that it was hot. He ruffled his hair, unzipped his jacket and threw it aside. "I'm drained. You and your family had me worried there, Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun."

His knees shook as he released all his tension, and promptly fell on his butt. "My knees are buckling now that all that tension's gone.... I'm impressed that you made it all the way here. I've been waiting for you. I'm actually on your side."

That, certainly was a surprise. Ryuuichi laughed at all their face, making all of them look at him. He continued snickering as he gestured them to continue whatever they wanted to say.

"O-on our side?"

"Uh-huh, yep.. I'm not good at this kind of thing.. It's so formal.." Ryuuichi chuckled at that. "On the contrary, Shoichi, you did great" He chuckled again when Shoichi rolled his eyes and flushed a little.

"R-ryuuichi?! What are you talking about!?" Gokudera asked. Ryuuichi pushed himself up and met the bomber's eyes. He could see that the bomber was starting to doubt him. He only simply waved, not caring if that had made it worst. "Right, right. Before any of you jump into any stupid conclusion, why don't you all listen to Shoichi first"

They snapped their heads back towards the man, glowering at him. "Ryuuichi-kun!" The said teen flashed him a mischievous grin. He ruffled his hair harder. "My actions were always known by Byakuran-san through my subordinates and by constant camera surveillance. But now that you've messed this place up, I can finally talk to you openly. I've been waiting a long time for this moment."

"It was our goal to meet you in this place under these circumstances."

"Our... Goal?"

Shoichi pushed himself up, standing again. "It's true that the Milliefiore brought you to this time to take the Vongola Rings. It's no surprised then, that you're all here with them."

"So you're after the Vongola Rings!" Ryuuichi had tapped on Gokudera's shoulder to get his attention but was swatted off. He saw the distrust inside the bomber's eyes. He simply sighed and shoved his hands into his pocket. He wasn't going to blame the bomber though, it was natural for him to be like that anyway. Not to mention that he had trust issues.

"If I simply wanted to take them, I wouldn't have needed to summon you here to the Merone Base." By summon, he meant those letters. The letters that TYL Gokudera had in his suitcase. "I devised this plan without Milliefiore's knowledge to provoke you into chasing me to this place."

"In order to train you all... To become stronger. I truly regret doing all those terrible things. But it was the only way to help you quickly improve, in preparation for the incoming battles!"

"I'm not your true enemy!" Of course, they wouldn't believe him, especially Gokudera and Lal Mirch. "W-wait. Give it some more thought! If I wanted to eliminate you, I could've done it sooner! Even if Milliefiore had lower their defenses, there's a world difference between your strength and theirs! You couldn't possibly win! ARGH- Ryuuichi-kun! Help me!"

Reborn turned towards the said teen. "Ryuuichi." Dark brown orbs met black ones. Ryuuichi briefly nodded and blinked, saying that it was all the truth.

"He's right"

"You all knew that we had no chance if we fought them head on. That's why we were desperate enough to try sneaking into this Milliefiore Base." Reborn explained. "And then, you went through many battles and gained strength, before reaching this destination. It's just as he says"

"You were brought in a few at a time, instead of all at once, so your future selves could provide guidance. Once you arrived, I could've mobilized the base earlier and captured you. But then, you wouldn't have gained any experience. I slowed it down on purpose!"

"That's not all. Do you know why I-Pin, Sasawaga Kyoko and Miura Haru were brought from the past as well? People become stronger when they have something to protect. It was therefore determined that they were necessary" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow. He had the feeling that he was forgotten, again. Well, it wasn't unexpected though. He wasn't originally in this story anyway.

He whistled in amusement when Tsuna rushed forward and grabbed Shoichi by his shoulder. "What.. What if something happens to Kyoko-chan and the others..? And for such a stupid reason!" The brunette grabbed the man's shirt, anger burning. "And not just them! Yamamoto, Gokudera-kun, Lal, and everyone else could've died in this battle before they ever 'developed'."

"That was the risk we simply had to take" Shoichi then burst. "I've been trying my best! It's been so hard with all these unexpected obstacles! This problem isn't as simple as you think! And you know, your future self was involved in devising this plan too, Tsunayoshi-kun!"

Ryuuichi sighed. There you go. "It was imperative that the plan was not be leaked to the Milliefiore, so it was a secret between myself, the future you, the future Hibari Kyouya, and the future Ryuuichi-kun!" He twitched at that. So, his older self did jumped right in, somehow.

"So when you said 'Our' goal, you were referring to..."

"Yes. That's was why the future Hibari was able to predict our ambush. The future you was uneasy about getting innocent allies involved. But in the end, you accepted that it was necessary for the past you to improve." Tsuna slowly released Shoichi, eyes wide. "N-no way.. I.. I... I brought everyone to this era... To such a dangerous place..."

"You didn't. At least, not everyone." Ryuuichi spoke up. He was staring into spaces, not meeting the other's eyes. "Give Shoichi a rest. He will collapse if you guys keep it up-" He was suddenly grabbed by the collar of his shirt and his face were inches away from Gokudera's.

"Dammit Drake. Don't tell me that you're with Milliefiore!" Gokudera himself couldn't believe what he was doing. Deep inside, he knew that the teen wasn't their enemy, or at least, he believed so. There's no way he could be, but given the situation and what he had said. 'Please tell me you're not... Drake..!'

Ryuuichi huffed. "I'm not." He gently pried the bomber's hand off and adjusted his shirt. "Can't you tell? Things were bad enough for the future Tsunayoshi to do this, and not to mention how hard that dude-" He pointed at Shoichi. "-was trying to convince you guys to believe him to the point of snapping and in the verge of hyperventilating, wasn't that enough?" ("I'm  **not**  going to hyperventilate, Ryuuichi-kun!!" "Sure, sure")

"You guys were brought here, to the future, to change everything. If you weren't, your future selves might be killed, and that wouldn't change the past. No, we, who are all from the past, will walk down into this future, and suffer the same thing. Understand now?"

"Yes! Also, if we screw up, the entire human race will be in danger!" Shoichi's voice cracked. ".. I think we should believe them.." Reborn spoke up. "His explanation has answered all of the questions I had." 'But not you, Ryuuichi.' (The teen could literally hear the unspoken words and sweated)

"By the way, your enemy will be Byakuran-san!"

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shoichi" The said man blinked and turned around when a fist came in contact lightly with his forehead. "Ouch!" He stumbled backward and rubbed his forehead. "R-ryuuichi-kun! What was that for?!"

Ryuuichi, who were released out of the capsule along with the others and were helping those injured and still unconscious one, leaned on one foot, one hand on his hip. ".......... No particular reasons." "What?!" The others watched, dumbfounded at their interaction. "I just felt like it"

The teen shoved both of his hand into his pocket and walked towards a wall to lean on. When he passed by the man, he whispered. "I'll ask you later." He was half listening to the other's conversation, half not.

The Varia, in Italy, had won their fight with one of their generals, as expected. Well, all thanks to Xanxus anyway. Ryuuichi closed his eyes and tried to recall what would happen next. If his hazy memories serve him alright, Ryohei would be poof-ed here, along with the Vongola Sun Ring. Yamamoto then would finally regain conscious, and Gokudera would, as usual, fight with the boxer.

He sighed when he was right about it. When he shifted a little, he felt the cold metal shifting under his shirt. He pulled it out and inspected it. There weren't any changes in the ring. The gap in the middle were still there, the words-. He scrunched his eyebrows and brought the ring closer to his eyes.

He had somewhat forgotten about it when he had completed the ring, and had not really look at it closely until now. He could comprehend those words, but couldn't understand them. It was in some sort of language that Ryuuichi didn't know. He couldn't recognize it either.

At the edge of the gap, there were something on it that wasn't there when he first received the ring. It looked jagged. For some reason that he don't know, it reminded him of the meeting with Vongola's First. He frowned at that memory. '...Why did I even met him..?'

His thoughts were broken when Shoichi walked towards the round device. The man place both of his hand on the device, as the part between it glowed. "I will now pass it to you" The core of the device started glowing, glittered, even, before it had opened up, revealing something that was glowing in orange.

"Accept the power left to you by the Vongola boss from this era."

Something coated with orange flame was shot out from the core and onto Tsuna's hands. It was a Box Weapon. A Sky Box Weapon.

Shoichi then turned towards Ryuuichi and gave him a nod. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at that. "And this, is a gift from Vongola Juudaime and Cavallone Juudaime, Ryuuichi-kun" Another one was shot out again, but coated with a mix of purple and yellow flame. He held out his hand and a box flaring both Cloud and Sun flame was on his palm.

It had the Vongola's crest on two side, whilst Cavallone's crest on the other two. He looked at it, slightly disbelieved. He pointed at the box, then at him as he gave Shoichi a look. If there's one thing that the others were able to read from his face, it would be,

'What in the actual hell?'

"Me?" Shoichi nodded, a little sheepish despite the fact that he doesn't have to. "I believed that it was a belated birthday present...." Ryuuichi gave him a deadpanned look. Really, what's with them and presents. It was another weapon, again. Although, he like it. He had not expected it. Not to mention that he doesn't have one, which was a plus.

"However, you still can't use that yet." Shoichi added, directing it to only the brunette. "Your Vongola Sky Ring can't open that box yet. You will need the seven Arcobaleno Seals for your Ring to open that box." 'Ah.. Right... But then...' Ryuuichi looked down onto his own box, and the ring in hand.

The box was a combination of the Cloud and Sun, and it probably wouldn't open if he just use a cloud or sun ring. Well, putting that aside, his ring was the real problem here. He had tried to lit it up before, but he couldn't. At first he had thought that it was because his resolution weren't strong enough, but it doesn't seem the case anymore. The restrains and the seal he had felt when he first got the ring was so heavy that he couldn't get use to it at first, but for some reason, it had loosen, lightened when he met Giotto. He thought that the Vongola Boss had released him from his seal, but apparently not. He still couldn't light it up no matter what.

"In order to draw out the full power of the Vongola Rings, you need to require the seven Arcobaleno seals."

But since in this era, all the Arcobaleno minus Reborn had died...

"You all need to go back ten years in time temporary" And overcome the Arcobaleno Trials and obtain the seals.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a little bit unnerving that they were being stared at whilst working. Ryuuichi had decided to stay with them and settled on silently staring at them. Shoichi, who obviously could feel the stare boring holes on his back, couldn't stand it anymore. "Ryuuichi-kun? What's wrong?" Spanner lifted up his head and looked at them, wondering why Shoichi and Ryuuichi were chummy. He had never seen the teen, or his older self as the matter of fact, during their university life.

"Before that, why not introduce me to him? I believe that we still haven't been acquainted" Spanner flushed a little, knowing that he had been found out. "Ah, sorry. Spanner, this is Shiroki Ryuuichi. I met him during a chess tournament in middle school" Spanner nodded.

"Ryuuichi-kun, this is Spanner." He raised an eyebrow at the brief introduction. Why did Shoichi didn't explain much? Ryuuichi chuckled when he noticed the man's puzzled look. "You met him in high school, and in University, and when you guys joined Milliefiore, am I right?"

Spanner blinked in surprise and nodded slowly while Shoichi sputtered. The latter didn't even mentioned about Spanner even once to Ryuuichi before. Ryuuichi simply chuckled again. "Resources~ Anyways" He turned serious, making Shoichi tensed up. He took out his ring and gave him.

"Have you seen this ring before?"

Shoichi pushed his spectacles up and inspected the ring. His eyebrows were furrowed. "No... But it certainly isn't a normal one... It's... Somewhat similar to the Vongola and Mare Rings....." Indeed, the ring is something foreign to him, but he could feel the power in it. It was comforting yet... Horrifying. He shuddered and quickly gave back the ring to Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi made a questioning noise at the back of his throat when he saw the shudder. He looked at the ring, and at Shoichi and raised an eyebrow. 'What..?' He shook his head and loop the ring back onto his neck, suppressing a shiver at the feeling of cold metal against his skin. He sighed. "So I guess, my older self didn't say anything, at all?" The man shook his head.

He huffed, looking at Shoichi and Spanner with indifferent face, until something hit him. He grinned mischievously and so evilly that the other two shuddered in fear. He faked a sigh and stood up from his sitting spot. "Well then, I better get going. See you later~" He shoved his hands into his trousers and walked towards the exit, but stopped short.

"Oh, right. Don't do 'that' here, alright? It wouldn't be good since the kids and girls will come later. By the way~ I won't steal your Shoichi from you, Spanner~!!!" He quickly ran away, not bothering to turn back and look at the two sputtering and blushing men. He laughed out loud when he heard Shoichi shouted his name.

"Ryuuichi-kun!!!!!!"

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As Ryuuichi was walking back to the base, alone, he remembered Yuuichi, his twin brother. He was fortunate that he was in camp during the period when he was in this era, which save him from having to explain anything. He couldn't imagine what would his brother do if he did knew that he had disappeared from that era.

He smiled. Even if it's just temporary, he could finally see him. He felt slightly annoyed that he couldn't meet Yuuichi in this era and despite that his older self had told him that he and his parents are save, that was just that. Perhaps he had grown too attached to them, that if they weren't at his sight, he would worry. But, isn't that just how he was? In addition, he felt that he's one step closer to his answer.

Ryuuichi looked up to the sky, still smiling. 'Things are going well, aren't they....'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right. This is the last chapter for the Future Arc. Next, the fifth arc, Arcobaleno Trial Arc.
> 
> Although Gokudera trust Ryuuichi whole heartily, the situations and what had happened had deterred him from continuing believe him. Even though he knew that Ryuuichi wouldn't betray them, still...
> 
> According to the Reborn! Wikia, Spanner and Shoichi met when they're in High School in a.. Robot competition? And had worked together in the same department when they joined Milliefiore. Though, I had added the fact that they also went to the same university because, it just doesn't feel right if I didn't.
> 
> And by 'That', well, I believed that most of you knew what it was, right? *wink*
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes] 


	24. Return

If Ryuuichi doesn't know about the whatever would happen, he would certainly pale when Shoichi said that they had been in this era for a few months. Fortunately, it was simply just three days. Imagine the havoc that would happen if they were gone for a few months in their time, and suddenly reappeared out of nowhere. Ryuuichi suddenly remembered the Scythe his brother got, and his brother. He quickly shook his head and shudder. That deadly weapon and his brother aren't a good combination.

Anyway, they only have one week to obtain all the Arcobaleno Seals, which meant that it would be a get or die thing. Ryuuichi wasn't so worried about it, unlike the others. He knew about the outcome already anyway. "This is a big gamble, but we have no choice but to count on you."

Tsuna clenched his hands tighter, only to loosen it when the children and girls had arrived. He turned towards them, and saw solemn faces of the girls. Of course they would be. They were, after all, suddenly thrown into this mess without knowing anything, nor received any warning. They didn't even knew about what Tsuna and the others were doing.  _Mafia_. The brunette just couldn't seem to see the good in telling them about it.

"Everyone's here now. Are you all ready then?" Tsuna said yes, stuttering a little. He looked towards his friends, which all of them had nodded in affirmation except for Yamamoto. The baseball star was frowning. It was probably hard for the teen since when he had arrived here, he was told that his father had passed away, killed by Milliefiore.

Yamamoto noticed the stare and turned towards Tsuna. "Ya-yamamoto, umm..." He simply smiled softly. "It's alright. I don't know how much time we'll have together, but I'll try to be a good son." A finger suddenly poked the gap between his two brows and pushed it up. He blinked in surprise as Ryuuichi gave him a stern, but concerned look.

"Stop frowning. It doesn't suit you" Ryuuichi backed away, and crossed his arms. "Be yourself, Yamamoto. Don't let what that happened in this future change you" He said nothing more and turned away, facing Shoichi, not giving the teen a chance to say anything. He nodded to the man.

"A-alright.. Let's send you on your way. Spanner" The said man nodded and turned towards his laptop and started typing. The round device started glowing and they, too, glowed. Sparked, even. Soon, they were materialized away, disappearing completely.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi looked around their surrounding and smiled. They were all in the past, or present and were all in front of the Namimori Shopping District. Hibari immediately left, perhaps going to Namimori Middle. Chrome, too, had disappeared without a word. Ryuuichi peered into one of the shops and saw the date and time.

'It really has been three days....' He chuckled at the rest who all couldn't believe that they were all really back in the past, present. Whatever. They all walked to TakeSushi in silence. A silence that was filled with anticipation, excitement, relief, and fear. They bade Yamamoto a 'See you' and walked off. For Ryuuichi's case, he had gave him a deadpanned look that reminded the baseball star of what he had said.

And then, they walked Haru back to her house and bade her a 'see you' too. Kyoko and Ryohei, and Ryuuichi had went off there too, all walking in different direction.

Ryuuichi immediately speed-walked back to his house, smiling.

(Then, he realized that the electrical appliances were left on for almost three days and paled.)

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"R-r-r-ryuuichi?!!?" The said teen turned to him, still munching on his food before swallowing it and raised a hand. "Morning" Tsuna gave him a bewildered look and asked him why he was here, to be answered with a point at a certain Arcobaleno, and "He came to my house early in the morning and invited me for breakfast"

He was taken away by the answer. He never knew that Reborn could  _invite_  someone, not  _force_  them. Before he could say anything, his mother ushered him to seat and eat his breakfast. Ryuuichi acted like nothing happened and finished his meal. He stood up and went to the sink to wash it, in which Nana had protested but he insisted, saying that it was as a payment for the free meal.

Tsuna felt a warmth bubbling in him at the homey atmosphere. It has been a while since he last experienced it after all. He suddenly realized the warmth from his family, by blood or not, that has always been there. He regretted not cherishing it in the past and vow to, starting now. His thoughts were broken when Reborn had told him to eat or else he would be late. He raised an eyebrow at that.

"Isn't that obvious? School" He then widen his eyes, snapped his head towards Ryuuichi whom had already finished washing his dishes, was wearing his school uniform, and then towards the clock. When he saw the time, he hastily finished his breakfast and ran upstairs to change.

When he was done, he speed walked out the house with Reborn on his head and met Ryuuichi was waiting for him by the gate, messing around with his phone. As they walked side by side to school and while he was talking to Reborn, he had caught a glint through Ryuuichi's unbuttoned collar at the corner of his eyes. When he turned his head towards the teen to ask him about it, a familiar voice had called out for them.

They turned around and saw Haru in her uniform, walking towards them.

"Good morning, Tsuna-san" The girl was smiling for once second and frowned the next. "Tsuna-san, after living under the same room for so long, I feel lonely when we're apart!" He sweated and gaped at that. Beside him, Ryuuichi snickered.

"Ossu, Tsuna." They turned around again and saw Yamamoto, followed by Gokudera who came the opposite side. "Good morning, Juudaime, Reborn-san, Ryuuichi" The latter simply nodded at him and made eye contact with Yamamoto before returned to stare at his phone. Now that Tsuna think about it, the teen had been looking at his phone ever since he had finished his breakfast but pushed it back as he greeted the two.

Reborn jumped off of Tsuna's head and onto Yamamoto's shoulder, asking him about the clothed thing. "Oh, that's Shigure Kintoki. You never know when things might go wrong." And then, Gokudera had put on his box weapon belt and took out his dynamites. "Juudaime, I can switch to full gear in any moment!" Tsuna sweated again.

Unknown to them, except Ryuuichi and Reborn, a certain Arcobaleno was watching them from a lamp post. Ryuuichi peered at the Arcobaleno through his bangs, watching her too, before turning away to nod at Ryohei and Kyoko. They then had walked to school together.

Ryuuichi was silent the whole time as the others chattered about, entertained by his phone and shutting out everything. He was messaging his brother, who happened to be having an off day at the camp and was lazying around. They had been messaging each other after the first message the younger one had sent. Ryuuichi had asked him about his well being and had promptly started mother-hen-ning him. He would subconsciously smiled a few times after reading the replies.

Though, he did noticed the puzzled stares from Tsuna and when the brunette had tried to question him but failed. It wasn't as if he wanted to ignore him, but he wasn't really in the mood to speak, not after the dream-no- memory he had. His hands tighten around his phone.

_"Could you just shut up?"_

_"But-"_

_"Xxx, **shut up**. You're annoying" Slam!_

_"....."_

It was a memory that he had buried deep down in him and had never wanted to remember even bits of it. Perhaps it was because of the battle. In his past life, he had this friend, best friend, who once was had asked for his- _her_  help to report something to the authorities. But at that time, she was powerless and couldn't do anything. (He scoffed. As if he was different from that time) How could she anyway? How could she simply report something without a firm evidence about it? And because of that, her friend had been distant.

That, was one thing. The other was after that incident, whenever she constantly wanted to talk to him, he had shunned her til they were no longer in touch, totally cutting connection. She hated it though. That friend was her childhood friend, one of her trusted people. It pained her when it was severed off simply just like that.

And just from that, she had slowly closed herself off, became more reserved and silent, and had forgotten her own emotions.

Ryuuichi immediately shook all that out and locked it again. The pain had slowly dulled and disappeared. He wasn't going to think about that again. That was all in the past and he had long let go. That, was  _her_. Now, it's  _him_.

He released a heavy sigh, feeling a little better. He tucked his phone back into his pocket when they had arrived at the school. They greeted Haru a 'see you' and walked into the school. Ryuuichi stayed a little longer and stared at the small stall that was selling Chinese Baozi. He gave the seller a smirk before walking away.

The seller frowned but was amused.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi was watching Tsuna and the others interact with infant sized Lal Mirch on Hibari's usual spot on the roof. He chuckled when the brunette was slapped by her and when Gokudera got kicked on the shin. And then, Reborn appeared, explaining that she was only an observer.

He sat there unknown to all of them, except for the infants, watching them until lunch break was over. A sudden cold breeze blew from his back, making his hair fly to his face. He pushed away his bangs and looked up to the cloudy sky. It was quite calming and relaxing here, despite the height that had him frowning. No wonder Hibari liked it here.

He tensed up when he felt a stare and looked around him. He raised an eyebrow when there weren't anyone that had noticed him on his spot, nor looking at him. Someone had been staring at him ever since he had went into his classroom but he didn't know who was it. It was quite unnerving. He shivered at the thought of being stalked and shook his head.

"That would be me, Kora!"

He looked back up to the sky and saw Colonello hanging off the claws of his eagle. Their eyes met for a brief moment as Ryuuichi gave him a nod. Colonello blinked at the teen but he saw Lal Mirch. His eagle dropped him onto the roof, opposite of where the teen was sitting. He ignored Ryohei when the boxer called him and raised his sniper. Lal Mirch, too, raised her's. They glared at each other for a brief moment before they threw away their snipers and jumped at each other, immediately fighting.

Ryuuichi amusedly whistled when Colonello was throw off before he step-jumped on Tsuna's face, followed by Lal Mirch. He wondered how could someone run up a vertical wall without any support. Unless, the infant had something to support him, which was highly unlikely. He silently clapped when Lal Mirch won, impressed by their small spar.

For some reason, he felt like wanting them to just get hitched right there, right then. Like, literally.

He smirked. Tsuna's first trial would be combat abilities. He jumped down after he deemed them finished their talks. He tapped the tip of his shoes, feeling the slight burn on his sole. "Hello" His smirk haven't dropped, hands shoved into his pockets.

The others blinked at him while Tsuna who was still on the group cringed at the fact that Ryuuichi almost stepped on him when he jumped down. Fortunately he didn't. Otherwise, he might just get him on that part. "Ryuuichi?! Since when you were here?!" He simply replied with a since the beginning and walked towards the door, stopping his tracks for a moment to face them and raised his left arm, showing them his black watch.

"Five minutes til class start. Shouldn't we go?" He didn't wait for their reply and went down the stairs, didn't even stop when a weight dropped on his head as he had knew who it was. He simply chuckled at the small pat on his head. For some unknown reasons, he had actually liked it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had his backpack slung on one side while carrying a stack of files. He walked down the hallway to the Reception Room, where Hibari should be at, to give him the files. He huffed a little and turned at a corner, only to jump back split seconds before he crashed into the other two.

He sighed in relief but raised an eyebrow at the familiar teens, despite never seen them before. 'Ahh.. Right' He faked a sheepish smile and bowed a little. "Sorry"

The two smiled back at him and said it was nothing. He let them pass and stared at their back. The smile turned into a smirk. He continued his track again, chuckling a little along the way. Things would be entertaining for the week.

When they deemed that Ryuuichi was no longer in sight, they exchanged a look. The 'girl' snickered and smirked while the other's eyes glinted.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

They others' eyes widen in surprise and amazement the moment Colonello's Maximum Burst took out Gokudera's dynamites. The large blue flame formed a bird had floated about in the air. "It's been a while since I last saw him use it. As usual, it's ridiculously strong" Reborn said. Ryuuichi nodded at that, knowing that it is strong. He briefly wondered what would happen if that thing hits someone, not something.

And then, the flame dropped down into the ground and cracked. The ground gave way for Gokudera to fall inside if not for Tsuna in Hyper Dying Will mode had flew him away from it and landed him on a safer ground.

"There's no point in fighting separately. We'll fight together" Colonello smirked at the brunette. "Bring it on, Kora! Let's go!" Falco, his eagle, dropped him onto the ground as both Tsuna and Gokudera rushed towards him. Tsuna threw punches at him with his flaming fist, only to be blocked by the Arcobaleno. He frowned and punched Colonello a few more times but it was not effective at all.

The Arcobaleno jumped away before he was kicked and in return, kicked Tsuna to the ground. The others, except for Reborn, Lal Mirch and of course, Ryuuichi, shouted in concern for the brunette. Ryuuichi frowned, but was generally calm about it. It wasn't long until Tsuna got up again and flew towards Colonello.

"Colonello! Over here!" The Arcobaleno jumped up before a blast of Storm flame hit him. "Too late, Kora!" He turned his head and saw Tsuna behind him. He dodged another punch and kicked him away again, this time, in the face. Gokudera cussed and aimed again, he fired a few shots at him.

"You're getting annoying, Kora!" Gokudera was thrown back by the force of Colonello's shot. Just a Tsuna was sighing in relief when he managed to stop himself from crashing into a boulder, Colonello appeared in front of him and punched him into the boulder.

Ryuuichi winced at that. That, definitely would hurt a lot for sure. He cast a brief glance towards Ryohei and Yamamoto who were talking to the two Arcobaleno before looking back towards the ones that were fighting. He sighed inwardly at the fact that Colonello was toying them. He saw Colonello, who was hanging from Falco's claws, readying his sniper to shot another Maximum Burst at Tsuna, and towards Gokudera. He then smirked.

When the smoke and dust dispersed, they could see shields protecting Tsuna. It was Gokudera's Sistema CAI. And then, the bomber and the Arcobaleno attacked each other. Ryuuichi sweated at those two, having a feeling that they were like children, even though they weren't and aren't. They were as if trying to impress the other and taunted one and another. Of course, Colonello wasn't fazed by those attacks, until the shot that suddenly propagated. It hit him. Not.

He appeared behind Gokudera's unguarded back, thinking that he had got him, only to find out that Tsuna was preparing for his X Burner. Behind him. Karma?

He and Tsuna released their flames, and it clashed. The latter gritted out his teeth and increased his flame voltage. Colonello's blue flame couldn't block it and he was shot.

Colonello had sat there, stunned and mouth slightly agape. The tip of his sniper were bent and ruined. Tsuna flew down and crouched in front of him. He took the badge from Colonello's band.

Ryuuichi clapped in amazement at that lightly. He smirked, noticing that Colonello had finally realized the brunette's potential, and strength. His leadership was something as well. The rest all smiled, knowing that they've passed their first Trial. They all ran towards them, with Lal Mirch leading and ending the Trial.

"Point the ring at Colonello's pacifier. You'll be receiving an Arcobaleno Seal as a proof that you've cleared this Trial." Reborn explained when the said Arcobaleno had told the brunette to take out his Vongola Ring. Tsuna nodded and did as told. The blue pacifier shone in bright blue glow and shot a light towards the ring.

The rest of the Guardians' rings shone in blue too. Ryuuichi who was standing beside Tsunayoshi jumped back a little, feeling a warmth inside his shirt. He turned around and peeked into it. His eyes widen as well when he saw the small blue glow.

'What. The. Actual. Heck'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter of the Arcobaleno Trial Arc!
> 
> Reborn had literally, literally, broke into Ryuuichi's house around 4 in the morning while he was sleeping and stared at him until he woke up, which was long because the teen could feel the stare boring holes onto his face. When he woke up, he practically jumped in shock and horror.
> 
> Though, Ryuuichi was glad that the hitman had woke him up as he was having a bad dream. Thus, that part on his past. As I had said, it's only a minor thing and well, you know.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	25. Skull and Mammon

The ring looked exactly like it was before, but there's this transparent blue, thing that Ryuuichi spotted after looking at it for a good whole half an hour. He was sure that it wasn't there before. A flashback of the first Arcobaleno Trial ran in his mind and he remembered. The ring was glowing the exact same time Tsuna's Guardians' rings glowed, not to mention that it was a little warm. He frowned at that.

'So does that means it will glow every time Tsuna gets a seal? Why?' No matter how much he tried to figure it out, he just couldn't find the logical answer to it. Things have been a little strange ever since he went to the future courtesy of his older self and it frustrated him to no end. He sighed and ruffled his hair to shake off a fallen leaf.

Speaking of which, why was he here again? 'Ah. Right' He was waiting for a certain pineap- blue haired teen, a prefect and a brunette's appearance, under a tree. He had been here after they went back for the day. He, after all, wanted to witness their fight, even though it would be cut short by the brunette. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, feeling tired and bored. He had nothing to do while waiting for the others but then blinked and groaned aloud. He just remembered that he had a three day span of homework left untouched.

Just thinking of it made him wanting to burn it. Despite the fact that he had really,  **really** , wanted to do it, he wouldn't. More like he couldn't. How he was raised as a child in his past life had him to be obedient, which had him couldn't break a little small rule without overthinking and worrying. Sure, he had broke a few before, but those were when he was absolutely confident that no one would really mind about it.

He groaned again. Still, he dislike it.

**_Clash!_ **

He turned towards the direction of the sound of metal clashes. It was quite loud before it stopped, followed by a muffled shout. Ryuuichi smirked. They were finally here. He stood up and looked towards where they should be, and did saw them through the spaces between the trees. He crossed his arms and leg while leaning on the tree's bark. He was so going to enjoy it.

He laughed when men in black suits and helmet surrounded Hibari and Mukuro before attacking them. They clearly do not know the two's strength. And as Ryuuichi had knew, they were all defeated by the two in just merely seconds. After that, Ken and Chikusa came out.

The two and Mukuro had a little small talk before he, chased by Hibari, ran towards the forest to continue their fight. Ryuuichi blinked and eyes widen. Was if just him or were they getting closer and closer towards him. 'Shit' He quickly moved out of his place and away from the two as they begun to fight, both aware of his presence.

Hibari did knew that the teen was present, but didn't know why. But, now all he could think was on getting revenge. Mukuro, too, was well aware of him. After all, Ryuuichi was one of the people that interest him and there were only a handful of them which Mukuro deemed so. Also, he knew that the prefect was interested by him too, if not, attached seeing the fact that he had frowned upon sight.

He chuckled and dodged the incoming tonfa. "How unexpected for you to be concerned about someone" He smirked when Hibari's eyes narrowed. "He does interest me too. Can I steal him away from you?" He raised his trident just in time before the metal weapon hit his face. His lips tugged into a smirk.

Hibari growled at that. He wasn't stupid enough to fall for the taunts but he knew that he would do it if he wanted to, and Hibari do not want him to. No one, not even Satan, can take Ryuuichi out of his sight. Anyone who does that shall be bitten to death and get a bloody torture from him. "No" He snarled and deliver a harder blow.

Ryuuichi, on the other hand, had all his attention on the fight in hand. He was standing by the side, away from those two blood thirsty teens. He raised an eyebrow when he saw their lips moving and that somehow Hibari was enraged. He huffed, knew that Mukuro had said something that angered the prefect. He tensed up again at the howl of a giant Octopus and moved away quickly.

A few seconds after he had moved away, the creature was thrown towards where he was standing just now. The long tentacles fell limp from it and one of it almost squished him. He gave a shaky laugh and sighed in relief. He looked towards the two that were still fighting. Just as they were about to deliver another attack, Tsuna who was in Hyper Dying Mode flew down and stood in between them, hands raised to each of their faces.

"Stop" They backed up, impressed. Tsuna went out of it and tried to persuade them to stop fighting. "Please stop, Hibari-san, Mukuro! I don't know why you two are here nor why you were fighting... However, there's no reason for you to fight now. You guys were actually set up here" He struggled.

"I knew that" Hibari said, surprising the brunette. "Did you think I'd be fooled by that illusion? It came from an illusionist I'd already seen through before" Mukuro added. Tsuna frowned. "Then, is it Mammon?"

"I thought it might be amusing to go along with their plan. Vindice Prison is terribly boring." An image of a cuffed and chained up Mukuro in a tank flashed through his mind. He then remembered that the bluenette's still in the prison. "However, I became truly entertained as I fought against him. The same would apply to him." He glanced at Hibari before turning back to the other teen.

"It is not interesting! Because.. Because you.." A grim look fell onto Mukuro's face despite him smirking as usual. "Yes, I know that. I pushed Chrome a little too hard" His peered towards Ryuuichi, whom was frowning at him. To Mukuro, it was as if Ryuuichi was displeased by that. Of course he would anyway. Who wouldn't when he overworked Chrome? Mukuro wanted to laugh at his thoughts but he couldn't help but hoped that Ryuuichi would do otherwise.

Unknown to him, Ryuuichi was frowning at him out of concern. Not just to Chrome, but also to Mukuro. He knew that the teen wouldn't be released from prison til, well, Shimon's arrival but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to break him out. He does and still do. Although the teen was arrested based on the law, he felt that it was unfair. Mukuro had went through a lot. Same goes to Ken and Chikusa, and other unnamed children. They were all experimented, tested, toyed and tortured as a child. Blood and tears shed for who knows how long of torture.

True, Mukuro had killed most of them, but those that managed to ran away weren't. And  _he_  was arrested and chained in prison. For killing killers who all killed more of those innocent children. Those killers? They had it easy. Died in just matter of seconds. No torture at all.

Ryuuichi clenched his fist for a few moments before releasing them. He slowly blinked to Mukuro before the teen disappeared and Chrome appeared. Ken and Chikusa arrived and demanded for Mukuro. He glanced back towards the other side and smirked when he saw Reborn and the other Arcobaleno.

Tsuna had pass the second Trial, the test of Charisma had ended.

He continued his track, not bothering to stay and watch the brunette receiving his seal. Just as he was about to run towards Hibari whom just stepped out of the gate, the ring around his neck glowed in purple and was warm. He sighed, knowing that he was right about it glowing whenever Tsuna passes a Trial. Though, he still doesn't understand why it would glow. He shook the incoming headache and ran.

It doesn't matter anyway. As long as he knew that he was getting closer.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi quickly cover his mouth and nose when he suddenly sneezed. Briefly, he wondered if he was getting a flu or something, but he doubt it. He had been sneezing ever since he was out of his house and promptly had a shock when the mist was so thick that it could be easily mistaken as haze if not for the cold atmosphere around him. Though, something strange about it was that it has this distant smell. It doesn't smell like smoke, nor was it dust.

'Mist....' Then it clicked. 'Mammon' To be honest, he thought that it was Mukuro's doing at first but he remembered about the Trial, this, that and blah blah blah. If there's anyone who could make such thing, it would definitely be either Mukuro or Mammon, or a few others but he doubt that they would be bothered to do something like this for no reason at all.

As he reached a four junction, he squinted his eyes and could barely make out figures. When he was closer, he saw Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei. They had all received a call from the Mist Arcobaleno, but didn't knew about that. As for Ryuuichi, well, let's just say that his guts told him to get out of the house instead of rotting inside and staring at his laptop the whole day. Despite his reluctance, he forced himself out as he couldn't even concentrate of whatever he was doing with the feeling nagging him.

He silently sneaked up on Tsuna and slung a hand over his shoulder. "Yo~" The poor brunette shrieked his infamous yelp and jumped. He snickered at the other's bewildered face even though they had returned their greetings. Just as Tsuna was about to question his appearance, a familiar voice was heard.

They all turned towards the source and saw a certain Arcobaleno appeared out of thin air.

"Hello. It's been a while" Ryuuichi gave him a smirk and pulled away from the brunette. "Next up is Mammon's Trial?" Tsuna questioned in which Mammon confirmed it. "I'm not interested in doing stuff that doesn't make cash, but as an Arcobaleno I don't get a choice"

Gokudera retorted and demanded for him to just give them their seal. Ryuuichi sweated but raised his eyes when a image of a caged Kyoko appeared. To the others, it looked real. Tsuna eyes were wide as Ryohei demanded an explanation. To Ryuuichi, well, it looked faked. So faked as he felt like puking at it. Somehow, he was always able to decipher something that was real, and something that was not. He had been able to do that ever since he was a she.

Putting that aside, the image disappeared. "Hold on. No funny business. Or who knows what might happen to her." Tsuna clenched his hands on his gloves and pills, but lowered them. "If you want to save her, you'll have to clear my trial." Ryohei was cussing himself for letting Kyoko go out this morning. If only he hadn't..

And then, Tsuna too had blamed himself. Ryuuichi rolled his eyes at the self blaming session. Even Reborn had found it pathetic. "Just get out here and save her"

"But... This isn't fair! Aren't you an Arcobaleno too? You could at least tell Mammon to let Kyoko-chan go"

"You don't seem to get how this works" "Reborn has his own trial to administer" Lal Mirch then added. "And I'm a 100% neutral party"

"You have to overcome this by yourselves. That's what makes it a trial"

That, had triggered them. They decided to pass this trial by the rules and save Kyoko. As they were declaring it to Mammon, Ryuuichi sneezed again. He muttered an apology but was cut off by his another sneeze. "Ryuuichi? Are you alright?" He heard Tsuna's voice tinted with concern.

"I'm fine- Achoo!" He cussed under his breathe. The damn distant smell was getting him and it annoys him to no end. He certainly do not enjoy sneezing the whole time. Mammon raised an eyebrow that wasn't visible to anyone. The teen doesn't look sick to him, nor he actually was. 'Could it be my illusions?' He threw that thought away. There's no way his illusions would create any other causes than mental trauma and motion sickness.

"Let's start. My trial is a test of adaptability. I'll be asking you a number of difficult questions. If you can solve them, you'll reach Sasagawa Kyoko" Tsuna felt a little relief seeing that they have Ryuuichi. The teen who noticed that immediately shot it down. "One thing. I won't participate"

Dread filled the brunette.

"Here's the first question" Mammon said. "Where does a pig sleep?" Ryuuichi gave the arcobaleno a slight deadpanned look for some reason. "Ah that's right. I forgot. You're getting in the way, Hayato" He was impressed when Mammon turned into Bianchi. Even the voice sounded the same. As expected, the bomber's stomach groaned and he was down. "This trial will be taken by Sawada Tsunayoshi, Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasagawa Ryohei. All others will be forced to leave. That includes you, Shiroki Ryuuichi"

Ryuuichi sighed and shook his head. "I'll bring him to your house, Tsuna." He crouched down, slung an arm over Gokudera and hoisted him up. He eyed the Arcobaleno amusingly as a smirk formed on his lips. "Don't worry. I have no intention on doing that" 'As if I needed to anyway' He knew that Mammon could literally hear the last unspoken part seeing that the Arcobaleno twitched a little.

Mammon was unnerved by the teen. (And he really wanted to wipe that smirk out of that face) Although they never really knew each other, or even talk as the matter of fact, he knew one crucial thing about him.

He isn't someone simple.

"Well, I'll be waiting at the solution"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Arara? Hello Ryuuichi-kun. What's wrong with Gokudera-kun?"

"Hello, Nana-san. I'm sorry to disturb you. Well, he fell asleep due to fatigue." He smiled sheepishly and if he wasn't holding onto Gokudera, he would have rubbed the back of his neck. The ever so oblivious Nana giggled at little and had believed it. Sometimes, Ryuuichi wonder how could this woman be so dense. She made way for him to get in. "I'm sorry for intruding" He muttered and worked on their shoes.

"I'll place him in Tsuna's room" He then carried Gokudera up the stairs slowly, keeping a firm grip around him so that he won't fall off. He huffed and rolled his shoulders, feeling satisfied among hearing the cracks. He sighed as he sat beside the bed Indian style. He looked Gokudera and smiled softly. The bomber looked rather cute when he was asleep.

He softly stroked his head, pushing a strain of hair out of his face and chuckled when Gokudera frowned a little before relaxing. He was leaning towards his hand, even. "Dr...ake.." His eyes soften at that.

To be told the truth, he had felt their relationship a little strained these few days. Ever since the bomber, and the others, knew the truth about Shoichi, he was a little guarded up on Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi knew that it would happen. It was expected after all. He knew it, yet he didn't do anything. It wasn't because that he didn't care or he was too lazy, no. It was because that even if he had done something, it won't change the fact that he would be still hiding something.

And the others would know it. Unless he was to tell them, they wouldn't trust him fully. But of course, he wouldn't. Not now.

The sound of the door clicked open cut him off of his musing. It was Nana carrying a tray with a cup of water on it. He immediately sat straighter, nodding and thanking the woman when she gave him the cup. Nana smiled at him and sat down in front of him, the tray on her lap. He blinked in surprised an confusion.

The awkward feeling slowly crept up on him as they sat in silence with Nana observing him with sharp eyes that he never realized the woman have. He sweated and looked to the other side of the room, sipping on the water. "Ryuuichi-kun.." He tensed up when the woman spoke.

"Thank you for always be there for my son." She bowed a little in which the teen panicked. "A-ah no. It's the same towards him- I mean- Um" He stumbled on his words and bowed lower. He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not used to this. (Unknown to him, his cheeks were a little flushed)

Nana giggled at Ryuuichi's flustered look. For all these times she had met him, this was the first time her seeing the usually calm and collected teen fazed. It was an amusing sight. To her, he looked like a child. Unlike to the others, Ryuuichi had always been dubbed as the 'adult' of the circle courtesy of his matured personality. Though, no matter how Nana looked at him, he looked more like an awkward child trying his best to not let other people know what he has in mind.

Perhaps it's a mother intuition but that's what she felt about him.

Ryuuichi bit his tongue to stop himself from rambling. He felt like running away right there, right then. It wasn't because he don't like the woman, he does! But he has always been awkward with anyone's parent. Well, people older than him as the matter of fact. He couldn't seem to relax and open up to them unless he had interacted with them for quite a while.

"Umm-!" His eyes widen when he felt a hand on his head, gently patting him. Nana smiled brightly at him. For a few seconds, their eyes met. Ryuuichi felt that Nana had known something but did not dared to ask. She then stopped and stood up. "I'll be downstairs with the children if you need anything, alright?" He nodded shortly, trying to process what happened as she went out of the room.

He sat there for almost 2 minutes. His brain had shut down and was rebooting. He was literally frozen. Suddenly, quite a loud roar was heard, jolting him out of his dazed state. He looked down from the window and saw Tsuna, Yamamoto and Ryohei, and an aligator. He then finally remembered about the trial.

'Right. I need to go there...'

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Guess where Ryuuichi was now.

On top of the Shrine's roof. How did he get up there was a mystery. (At the back of his mind, he apologized to whoever lives in the shrine) Ah right. Reborn and Lal Mirch. Apparently, Mammon's star fish was destroyed by Ryohei and Yamamoto and he was somewhat 'in the way' as the two Arcobaleno has said, which they had promptly dragged him up onto the roof to avoid the pieces flying about with a strength that Ryuuichi rather no know about.

He sat in front of Tsuna and behind of the Arcobaleno as Mammon deemed him worthy. For some reason, he felt that Mammon had wanted to play with them a little while longer upon hearing the disappointed tone in his voice. "Now, hold out your ring"

The brunette did as told and a ray of indigo light was shot from Mammon's pacifier to his Vongola ring. It started to glow, the others' too. Ryuuichi knew his had glowed too. There's no doubt about it.

He tuned out the moment Mammon was explaining about the box weapon he received from Verde and such when his nose started to itched a little. A little while after that, he sneezed, making them all looking at him. Reborn jumped onto his shoulder and placed a hand on his forehead.

Reborn was not surprised when the teen's forehead was warm. He had showed symptoms after all. "You caught a flu, Ryuuichi" The said teen groaned in annoyance.

 

**\------------------------Bonus------------------------**

"Hello, Ryuuichi-kun~" An arm suddenly wrapped around his waist and he was pulled towards a certain blunette's chest. A hand grabbed his chin and had tilted upwards. Ryuuichi's eyes widen in shock. He immediately struggled to get out of his hold. "He...llo to you too Mukuro- Lemme go!!" It was a futile attempt as the older teen was much stronger.

Mukuro chuckled, amusement dripped heavily. "Why?" He leaned closer towards his face, gap shrunk into merely a few inches. He found it adorable when Ryuuichi's face turned red and he avoided his eyes. "Cute~"

"I-I'm not cute! Let me go right now!" Oh Ryuuichi was sure that his face were flushed. Mukuro was too close and he could literally feel the hot breathe on his face. He struggled even harder, pushing the blunette away.

Suddenly, another arm had wound itself around his waist and pulled him back. A certain metal weapon had swung towards Mukuro, in which the latter immediately let go of Ryuuichi so that he could jump back and avoid the blow. Ryuuichi's back hit another chest and he looked up, to find a furious looking Hibari.

Hibari growled at the pineap- the smirking teen, tightening his hold on Ryuuichi. "Herbivore...." Yep. Definitely furious. He's so going to bite the pin- blunette to death and he would certainly bring him back to live so he could bite him to death again.

"Kufufufufu~ That's rude, skylark-kun~" Mukuro's heterochromia eyes glinted menacingly, but Ryuuichi could literally see him laughing like a madman inside. The two blood thirsty teen glared at each other so hard that he was sure that there were sparks flying about.

Him, on the other hand, were trying hard to get out of Hibari's vice grip but stopped when Mukuro simply stride towards them. He watched the teen in confusion. Did Mukuro want to die? Hibari growled once more, his already very tight hold, if possible, got tighter. (Ryuuichi winced internally. He was going to get a bruise for all he know)

"Well then, I need to go now. See you soon, Ryuuichi-kun~" The said teen frozen when a pair of lips made contact on his forehead before Mukuro dispersed into Mist. He simply stared into spaces for a while, trying to process what had happen.

Hibari snarled and swung his tonfa down only to hit the mist. Make that biting him to death into thrice. When he's sure that Mukuro had fully disappeared, he turned towards the dazed teen in his arm. He hated the fact that Mukuro had kiss him (even though it was on the forehead). That thought had him scowling.

He leaned down towards the exposed neck and had promptly bit down. Hard. Ryuuichi immediately came back to earth at the pain and yelped. "Ow!!" He jumped away from the loosen grasp and a hand flew up to cover the bitten part as he gave Hibari a dumbfounded and disbelief look. Hibari, if anything, looked smug and smirked. He sauntered towards the teen.

Ryuuichi stepped back when the prefect got closer. He was so going to run away if Hibari did anything. But to his utter surprise, a hand briefly brushed his head and Hibari had past by him, walking away as if nothing just happened. He stood there with only one thing in his mind.

'What in the exact hell has happened?!?!?!'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *laughs* I hope you guys enjoyed that bonus! I had no idea where to place that in the story so there ya go.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi was forced to rest by Reborn and almost choked on a medicine when the Arcobaleno forced it into his mouth. Though, he was recovered the next morning, thanks to his high immune system.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	26. Fon and Aria

Ryuuichi was walking into the grocery stall to buy some food when he spotted a certain guy wearing Chinese attire by one of the aisles. He stared at the person for a moment before walking the other away. A ghost smirk found it's way onto his face when he was out of the person's sight.

Fon in his disguise sighed inaudibly. During the whole time he was observing the teen, he could tell that he is a very sharp one seeing that the cat almost got out of the bag for a few times. Just as he was about to move away from his spot, a hand tapped his shoulder. He whirled around, eyes wide underneath the dark sun glasses he wore. He hadn't notice the teen coming up to him from the other side, at all. It was impressing, yet amusing since there were only a handful of people who can sneak up to Fon unnoticed.

"Hello" Ryuuichi greeted, the smile he had looked borderline to a smirk. "Can you please pass me that?" He was answered with a nod and the thing he wanted, a box of chocolate cookies, were given to him. He took the box and place it into the basket he was holding. He thanked him and passed by him. " _See you tomorrow_ " He said it in Chinese. He walked away, and did not even turned around. Well, if he did, he would certainly see the bewildered look.

Fon watched the teen disappear into the crowd as he blinked. 'That... Was unexpected'

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm sorry! I'll never do it again! So don't bite me to death!"

"What's wrong, Tsuna-san" The said brunette turned around and saw a certain girl, and another teen with dark brown hair crouching on the floor, whole body shaking with a hand covering his mouth. "Haru! Ryuuichi! Why are you here?" He said but Ryuuichi simply just ignored him and kept laughing. "And please stop laughing!" Ryuuichi's body shook for a few moment before it finally stop and a loud audible sigh was heard.

"I was thinking about how I wanted to see my Tsuna-san, and then I just happened to spot you. It must be fate" Haru cupped both her cheeks and blushed for some reason. "I came for no particular reason" Ryuuichi said as he stood up from his position, still grinning very hard.

"I've been waiting for you" They turned towards the direction of the voice, and a certain person in his disguise along with Reborn and Lal Mirch. The person suddenly jumped, out of his disguise and landed steadily on the railing of the roof top's fences. A Hibari look alike infant stood there with a gentle smile and did some moves and deep breathe which was a bit weird to Ryuuichi.

"I am Fon. My trial will be a test of leadership." Fon said. Tsuna and Haru's eyes widen at the Arcobaleno. Fon looked exactly like Hibari, minus the long braid he had. Ryuuichi's lips twitched upright at that.

"Uh-hm, what exactly would a test of leadership involve?"

"The rules are simple. I will be running around the school. You'll clear the trial if you are able to catch me. The time limit ends at noon. You'll fail if you can't catch me before then." Which meant that they have one hour left. "You may use the members that are currently in the school grounds to catch me. I will use that to judge your leadership skills." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself which Fon had nodded.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head and wondered if he should participate. 'Oh well, I'll just tag around and leave half way to disturb Hibari' He shrugged. "Fine"

And so, it begun. Tsuna and Haru ran towards where Fon was with Lambo in the brunette's arms whilst Ryuuichi lagged not far behind. They ran up the roof top and saw the Storm Arcobaleno still standing on the railings. Both Haru and Lambo ran up to Fon to catch him but failed as he jumped away from them.

"Hey, I'm over here" Ryuuichi sweated at that. For some reason, he felt that Fon can be a tad bit childish sometimes. They ran out of the roof to chase after the Arcobaleno but halfway through, Ryuuichi slipped away to the reception room unnoticed. He stood in front of the room for a few moments, before sliding open the door without knocking even though he knew that Hibari's inside.

He grinned. "Yo~!!"

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna's heart almost jump out of his throat when a hand was placed on his shoulder and the familiar yet dreaded voice was heard. "So you're the ones playing in my school" He turned around to explain to the prefect only to have Fon jumping on him and away. Hibari and Fon's eyes met as they widen ever so slightly.

It was broken when Fon jump-kicked on Lambo and landed on the floor gracefully as he made his way out the door, only to be stopped by his apprentice. "I-Pin, haven't seen you in a while."

"Master! Please let Tsuna-san catch you!" I-Pin said, trying to convince the Arcobaleno but of course, it was a futile attempt. "I can't simply allow that" They jumped up into the air and fought with each other. "I'm going to make Tsuna-san, Lambo and everyone else happy!"

They blasted Gyoza Ken at each other in which had hit Lambo who was in the middle. I-Pin took that chance and used Lambo. She apologized and used Gyoza Ken on him, throwing him towards Fon. Fon immediately jumped back to the opposite of the room. As he was 'flying', he noticed the hands that were ready to catch him. He smiled and closed his eyes, letting himself to be caught.

"Yes, that's how it should be" He landed on Tsuna's lap just as the clock struck 12 in the afternoon. Lal Mirch immediately appeared and ended the trial, with the trial cleared. Haru ran up to him and congratulated but he hadn't actually done anything. He had fell onto the ground after Hibari had 'bitten him to death'.

In the meantime, Ryuuichi chuckled and patted the prefect on his back. He ignored the glare Hibari had gave him and waited for the right moment to go inside the classroom. The first thing he did after greeting him in the reception room was annoy Hibari but wasn't dealt with. So, they had sat in the room with Ryuuichi constantly poking here and there til an explosion was heard, and felt. At that, they had went out to find the so called culprit, which Ryuuichi had long knew who was it.

His ring that was around his neck glowed, the same time the guardians' rings glow..

"Hey, you all. How long are you going to loiter around?" Ryuuichi decided to appear as Hibari intercepted their conversation. The brunette stuttered out the prefect's name whilst I-Pin turned red at first glance and her eyes were heart shaped. Hence, the time bomb had started. They,except Tsuna was a little bit amused at that.

The brunette hastily picked up I-Pin and threw her out of the window. She exploded in the air as Ryuuichi whistled, impressed at it. Her master sighed. "Good grief.. She still has a long way to go after all."

\---------------------------------------------------------------

" _Hello again_ " Ryuuichi semi-turned his head around when he heard a familiar voice speaking in Chinese before turning back to rummage a somewhat large box. " _Hello. Gimme a second_ " Fon raised an eyebrow at that (Along with the fact that he hadn't had questioned his appearance in his  _house_ and in his  _room_ ) and was curious. He jumped and landed softly on the teen's shoulder to peek into the box only to be even more confused.

The teen was searching for something in a box full with a bunch of random stuffs ranging from wires to key chains to Rubik's cube- and did he just saw a-. Nevermind. Anyway, Ryuuichi took out a few books that were in there and tossed the things around. " _What are you looking for?_ " He huffed when he couldn't find it. " _Something_ " He searched for it again before pausing for a moment. His eyes sparked a little when he finally saw what he had wanted to find.

He immediately stood up and hurried to his laptop that was on the black computer table and was playing a few English songs softly. He sat down on the black chair and plugged in the thing he had been searching for. A pen drive. Files after files popped out and a few had Fon frowning in both curiosity and dread because they were unnamed and for some unknown reasons, the Arcobaleno definitely do not want to know what were inside those files. (Something told him that it was something that he could never unseen it again)

He watched Ryuuichi clicking a few things here and there and not long after that, the teen unplugged it and leaned back to the chair (Which had tilted backwards) with a sigh. "Finally.." And then, he remembered the infant that was still on his shoulder. " _Ah right. Sorry about that_ " He stood back up, went out of his room and went downstairs to the kitchen.

There, he had made two cups of tea and placed it in front of Fon. Fon thanked him and sipped on the surprisingly- not really- aromatic tea. " _So....._ " Ryuuichi didn't continued and gave him a curious stare as he leaned against the counter, drinking his own cup of tea.

" _Right. About that, I was simply just curious what's your relationship with Kyoya_ " Fon said, smiling as usual but there was something off about it. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow. ".... _It's not just that, isn't it. Well, Hibari and I are..._ " He paused, trying to think of the best term for their bond. ".... _Friends_ "

Fon chuckled, had half expected the sharpness the teen possess. " _True. It isn't just that._ " He looked directly into those dark brown orbs and questioned.

" _How did you know that who I was that day?_ " By that day, he meant yesterday where the teen had first talked to him. No matter how much he think of it, someone whom he had never met face to face and even talked a sentence had not only recognized him but had known where he was when he had observed- spied- him. (And no, Reborn and Lal Mirch couldn't have mentioned about him because he had personally asked them about it)

Ryuuichi looked a bit thoughtful. " _Hmm.. I just do?_ " He sipped his tea again, looking away from those black eyes not out of wariness but out of habit. A habit that he hadn't been able to shake off despite the times he was the one who initiated direct eye contact. " _Well, it's not as if I'll bring harm to you even if I know_ "

True, he wouldn't. Not to mention that Fon is  _the_  Arcobaleno, one of the strongest seven.

Fon realized that the teen wouldn't answer him and didn't forced him to. For one, he did knew that Ryuuichi would tell him one day. And he had the feeling that they would meet each other even more. So, he simply chuckled again and returned to drinking his tea, enjoying the peaceful silence between them.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sighed and frowned for the nth time that day. No matter how he think about it, he couldn't understand why was he dragged into this mess. First, he was strolling around the neighborhood after school in boredom to stumble upon Haru and Kyoko, in which they had met Aria.

When they had met and locked eye for the first time, they were surprised. Ryuuichi hadn't expected that he would meet the sky Arcobaleno of the present era while for Aria, it was because she realized that he was  _that_  person. And things went spiraling and in conclusion, they went to Tsuna's house.

And, the trial start! Out of nowhere. Ryuuichi was dragged along with them and lingered behind the group. He had wanted to sneak off but a look from the Sky Arcobaleno had him staying. It wasn't that he was scared or anything, it was because the look that he had received gave him a feeling that Aria had something planned for him too. Curiosity got the best of him and he had stayed.

Ryuuichi had no idea how or what had happened but they somewhat ended up at their school. His memories on the Sky Arcobaleno trial was hazy at best, but he couldn't remember anything much about it other than a few things.

"I was interested in seeing how Tsunayoshi-kun conducts his daily life." From then on, he had tuned out whatever they were talking about and narrowed his eyes at the trees and bushes meters away from them. If this was any other occasion, he would gladly hand them to Hibari because 'there were stalkers prowling in his territory', but he couldn't as they played an important part later on after all.

"Ryuuichi-kun" He turned towards Aria. "Yes?" Aria simply smiled knowingly but didn't say much about his lack of attention. "So how's your school days?" He raised an eyebrow. 'What..?' "It's ok.. I guess?" Ryuuichi saw a glint in the woman's eyes and sweated a little. His attention was taken away when a certain prefect made appearance.

"What are you doing? You're not allowed in here after school hour" Hibari said. The prefect smirked at the sight of the small animal and took out his tonfa, wanting to fight him today. "Small animal" He rushed forward which surprised most of them. Ryuuichi immediately jumped back and kept dodging the weapon.

"H-hello to you too senpai. Anyway see ya!" He hurriedly ran away and was fortunately not chased by the prefect before stopping by a corner to wait for the others. He sighed, suddenly feeling tired.

'This is so going to be a longggg day...'

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Throughout the day, Aria had secretly-not-secretly manipulated Tsuna into buying stuffs, and carrying them for them while the Sky Arcobaleno asked Ryuuichi questions after questions. A few of them were so weird that Ryuuichi couldn't seem to answer but he did mentally cursed himself because he had gotten a little too sarcastic at one point.

Then, they decided to take a break by the park, much to the brunette's relief. He placed the mountains of shopping on the table, exhausted. Ryuuichi sat down beside him, exhausted too, mentally, that is. They breathed out identical sighs when Chrome appeared. Haru and Kyoko pulled her to sit in front of Aria, and in between them. Tsuna flushed when he was teased once again.

Apparently, the Mist guardian was looking for Ken and Chikusa whom both had somewhat 'left' her behind. And in turn, it was Tsuna who left Ryuuichi behind with the females to go back to the shop they had just went into. He had tried to follow the brunette but was held back by Aria.

It wasn't as though Ryuuichi was embarrassed or anything, he was used to it. But he felt a little uncomfortable. They were talking about Tsuna when Shamal decided to make entrance. The hitman slash doctor was surprised when he saw the Giglio Nero's boss and immediately hurried away. 'Idiot..' Ryuuichi sweated.

Ryuuichi turned his head sharply towards the bushes and stared at it, not even turning around when Tsuna had came back. He had spotted those men that were spying on them once more ever since the Trial had started. Seriously, whoever they are, they really need to work on their spying skill. Man, they were so obvious that had Ryuuichi cringing.

"Who are you? You're not a baby like Reborn and the other Arcobaleno. Plus, I heard the Sky Arcobaleno was missing"

"So you think I'm a fake?"

"...No" Ryuuichi smirked at that. "I don't get the sense that you're lying"

"Even though I'm selfishly sending you on errand after errand?" "I don't think you're a bad person" Aria smiled. "As you'd expect from someone of the Sky. You have honest eyes" Tsuna flushed at that.

Aria was about to say something but she narrowed her eyes and stood up immediately. Ryuuichi followed, reaching for his pocket and grabbed onto the retractable Bo stick he had brought but didn't pulled it out (Well, he would've bring something else but he rather not kill anyone in this era). They were surrounded by men in black, all were targeting Aria.

They attacked.

Tsuna rushed forward in his Hyper Dying Will mode and took care of one of the men. Gokudera, Ryohei and Yamamoto who were all spying at them the whole time came out of their hiding spot and lent a helping hand. They stood in circle around Aria and Ryuuichi, and began defeating the enemies.

Upon that, Ryuuichi relaxed a little. Looked like there was not need for him to do anything. He stood beside Aria, both watching the others fight. "Do you know who I am?" Ryuuichi questioned.

Aria glanced at him before back to the others. She hummed. "Not really. I've only saw a glimpse of your being in my dreams" The teen raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything more as he knew that Aria wouldn't, and couldn't tell him about what she had dreamt of. He, after all, have the same reason. "Oh, and.." She turned to face him.

She suddenly lifted her pointer finger to his forehead and there was a small flame, the same way Vongola Primo had did. He then jumped back, frowning and covering his forehead. "What the-" He didn't questioned further because the gaze Aria gave him indicated that she wouldn't say anything else.

Anyway, the Trial of Tolerance had been cleared.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter is a tad bit short. This Arc would be short anyway, since I hadn't have much thing planned here except Ryuuichi's glowing ring and despite the fact that this arc does play an important part.
> 
> The pendrive part was an add-in and I don't know what to do with it. [Ryuuichi was transferring a few files into his laptop for projects, and stuffs.] Oh and I'll leave whatever Fon had saw in the box Ryuuichi had rummaged to your imaginations.
> 
> Ryuuichi felt that Fon was slightly childish because in the anime, the Arcobaleno had said 'Oni-san' which literally meant demon or something but it was for the 'tag' trial so yeah. [Onii-san is different. It meant older brother for those who don't know or is confused about it] 
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi was partially Chinese in his previous life, which is why he could understand and speak Chinese, but he couldn't understand the characters until he was born into KHR world where he would learn Kanji.
> 
> Fun Fact= Fon had stayed over at Ryuuichi's house and had faked sleep. He had spent half of the night staring at the teen which Ryuuichi could feel as it was boring holes into him. He wondered what was with people and staring at him.
> 
> Aria had only saw a glimpse, which was blurry as heck, of Ryuuichi in her dreams. That dream was a short one. So short that it didn't hold any meaning that Aria could understand.
> 
> The next updates will be faster since, well, it's holiday again here, and there won't be any exams til probably May or June I dunno. So yeah. But the next chapter would probably be short too. Probably. Depends.
> 
> [I apologize for any spellings, grammars, etc.etc. mistakes]


	27. Reborn and Verde

_"If I were to betray you, will you still believe me?"_

_"..... Perhaps I wouldn't. But I believe that you would have a reason so yes. I will"_

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi woke up to darkness, once again. 'What in the world-' His eyes widen as he hastily looked around. He was once again floating in darkness, in void. He suppressed a shudder that was about to ran up his skin.  _"No-"_  He suddenly heard a voice and whipped his head towards that direction, but still, there was nothing.

_"Please.. No.."_

He frowned. There was absolutely nothing and he was alone, for sure. Then there was that ear piercing scream. He hurriedly covered his ears and winced at that. The scream didn't stop. Pleads were said, begged continuously. He closed his eyes tightly as he felt a headache coming. 'Goddammit-'

"Ryuuichi!!" He snapped his eyes open, finally seeing something. He sat up and winced a little at the slight pain. He looked at his surrounding, recognizing his room. He looked to a certain infant, who perhaps was the one whom had woke him up and was about to say something when he realized that he was panting. That, and he was sweating profusely.

Reborn had slept over at Ryuuichi's for the night as his trial was next. Perhaps it was to give Tsuna space for the upcoming challenge but he had the urge to stay out of the Sawadas' house that night and something told him to stay with Ryuuichi. The teen was a little surprised, but invited him nonetheless. He had slept with him in his room, with Reborn on his hammock that he took out of nowhere.

They were sleeping soundly when the teen started turning over here and there in the middle of the night. Reborn, being the ever so light sleeper, was awaken by that and had found Ryuuichi frowning so hard that it looked painful. He had jumped down onto his bed and touched his cheek only to retract it immediately. The teen's skin was very cold. He felt a twinge of worry (Ok maybe a lot) for the teen, who seemed to be having a nightmare.

He had tried to wake him up to no avail until his eyes suddenly opened. Those brown orbs were narrowed, and confused as Ryuuichi sat up and looked around, hair tousled. Reborn waited til the teen's haziness cleared before asking if he was alright. He said nothing else when he nodded and jumped to the wardrobe and plucked out a set of fresh clothes for him.

"Go wash up first and straight to the kitchen" Another nod was his answer before Ryuuichi took the clothes out of his hand and walked to the bathroom. Reborn walked to the kitchen and prepared a cup of tea for him seeing that Ryuuichi doesn't look like he will be going back to sleep. Well, it was fine anyway, since it was almost 5 in the morning.

Reborn found it quite astonishing to see the usually calm and collected teen this shaken and unnerved, but he didn't want to see him like that again. Reborn didn't know why, but he definitely do not want it to happen again.

Ryuuichi leaned on the bathroom wall, covering his eyes and groaned. This was the first time him having nightmare to the point that he would sweat. He stripped out of his clothes and when into the shower, sighing in relief as the water washing away the stickiness. He wondered what was that dream about. Yet, then again, it doesn't felt like a dream. It felt so real despite the fact that he was simply in darkness. He sighed again, pushing that away seeing that he might get another headache if he think about it longer. He peered through his bang to the sink, where his ring was placed.

The ring glinted a little.

Reborn looked up when Ryuuichi had walked in and sat on the chair. He pushed the cup of tea to him, ushering him to drink it up. Ryuuichi muttered a thank you and sipped the warm beverage. They sat in silence until Ryuuichi place the half empty cup on the table.

"... Do you want to talk about it?" The Arcobaleno wasn't going to force the teen to say it if he doesn't want to. He felt that the dream might be something private to Ryuuichi and he respect his privacy. But, Ryuuichi shrugged. "Sure.. I don't mind..."

"Well... It wasn't really a  _dream_... I don't know.." Reborn raised an eyebrow.

"I was in darkness. I can't see anything  _at all_  but there were screams. Someone was pleading for whatever was happening to stop or whatsoever..." Ryuuichi frowned and continued. "But it felt  _horrible_ "

He didn't understand why, but it felt heart-tearing. Especially the scream. It wasn't like what Tsuna saw during his meeting with the Vongola's bosses. It was more, personal. What Tsuna saw was what happened in the pass after Secondo has took over, that was fights and wars started and conducted by someone else. But what Ryuuichi had heard, it was as if he was the one who was screaming.

Though, Ryuuichi didn't recall any painful moments through his life as a he, and a she.

Reborn could see the confusion in his eyes. Maybe Ryuuichi had covered up the memories out of pain? Then again, it wasn't possible, given the teen's personality. Besides, he have a very strong mind.

Reborn nodded at the answer as comfortable silence took over again. For now, he could only stay by him side as a support.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Hello Aria-san" Ryuuichi greeted, surprising the Sky Arcobaleno who was standing behind a tree, looking at the brunette and his guardians' arrival. "Ryuuichi-kun? Since when you are here?" He gave a small smile and leaned against another tree, casting glances to the others before closing his eyes.

"Since the beginning" He cracked an eye open to see the woman's worried face. He chuckled. "Don't worry, Aria-san. Everything will be just fine. Though," He looked serious. "I had been wondering why you did  _that_  yesterday.." He meant by the flame thing on his forehead. He was already having a headache on why Vongola Primo did that on their meeting but having the Sky Arcobaleno doing that too? Double headache.

Aria hummed. "Well, a certain someone asked me to" Ryuuichi frowned. "Then you knew about my memories?" He frowned harder when she shook her head.

"I don't know anything about you."

The teen was about to say something else when the sound of the impact from the brunette when he hit the boulder, which had rendered him unconscious. '.......' Well, once again, he won't get his answer. Damn.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

As expected, they had failed the Trial. They were no match for Reborn, even after Tsuna was given a chance to defeat him. Although to the brunette, Reborn was a devil-spawn-torturer-tutor, but he was still someone important to him. Reborn was the one who changed his life. Reborn was the one who had pushed him when he almost gave up. Despite all the painful times, Reborn was the one who showed him his destiny. So, how can he do that to him? How can Tsuna hurt him even if it was simply a Trial?

No, he can't.

Reborn, on the other hand, pushed back the pain in his heart. He shouldn't even be feeling it. He is a ruthless, heartless person, so he shouldn't even feel worried for his student. But, he too knew that he couldn't. Tsuna wasn't like Dino, Tsuna was more than a merely student of his. Reborn knew that. The brunette had somehow crafted a place in his heart, like how Luce did. He hadn't want to fight with his student, but he knew he couldn't. No one is to run away from a trial. No, especially a trial.

Memories of the day when they became Arcobaleno had played in his mind. The damned moment. None of them were able to accept it when they were cursed into infant sized, except for Luce. She had foreseen it. She knew about her fate, and theirs' too. Despite being pregnant and all, she hadn't done anything to deter it. That was one thing that Reborn hadn't know why.

Ryuuichi sighed. He could literally feel the sad aura from them, despite one of them being very far away at the moment and another one hid it very well. He had followed the Sun and Sky Arcobaleno to Namimori Shrine, where the rest except from Verde would gather. He was annoyed by that yet he couldn't say or do anything about it. It wasn't his matter, which meant that he shouldn't be minding their business, but he was a little worried. They are considered his friends after all. And yes, Reborn is considered his friend, mind you.

He doesn't like seeing people whom he cares about sad.

As they were discussing, Ryuuichi had zoned out and yawned. He had actually wanted to stay with Tsuna and the others but Reborn had somewhat dragged him along.

"Pardon my language but that Lightning Arcobaleno's Trial would be the shittiest, if I would say" He widen his eyes and covered his mouth. "Opps" Reborn and the other narrowed their eyes at him as he looked away. He sweated at the stares that were boring holes. Damn he shouldn't have let that slip. Perhaps he was too tired. Damn the dream.

They stared at him for almost three full minutes before Reborn turned away from him, which the rest followed. He sighed inaudibly in relief. "We'll just have to see about that" The Sun Arcobaleno said.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi looked up to the sky and saw Pawn-looking machines along with Lightning Flame coated Starfish towards them. 'It's starting...' Tsuna and the others had begun fighting those machine. Ryohei and Yamamoto were still injured from Reborn's Trial and having to fight right after resting for half a day? Not a good thing.

He quickly jumped away when one of the machines from those whom Tsuna had missed rushed towards where he was. He stood there staring at the broken and smoking machine, wondering if he were to destroy it, would Verde get his flames reading? 'Right. I'm not going to attack any of it' He wasn't going to risk it after all. Having targeted by Verde is a pain in the ass so no thank you.

That, and the rest of his flames are suppose to be a secret until he decided to show it, which won't be so soon. Probably when they meet the White Marshmallow freak.

Then, they heard Verde's laughter. A submarine suddenly appeared and Verde came out of it. "Bearer of the Vongola Rings, are you enjoying this?" Ryuuichi muttered a 'nerd' under his breathe. He never really liked Verde for various reasons. That damn guy would do anything to get what he wants, especially if it was related to his experiments and researches. He would say that he's mad- well, he is mad. Verde's a mad Scientist. Yep.

Well, at least Tsuna and the others would kick his ass.

And yep. He was going to break the Arcobaleno pact. Great.

Reborn was enraged by that. He walked forward with Leon changed into a gun in his hand. "This is no longer a Trial. Verde has broken the pact. Let's move out!"

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Things had became worse. The Arcobaleno were captured courtesy of the Tri-Ni-Sette, Tsuna and the others' flames were sucked away and they were losing. But it didn't fazed Ryuuichi. He simply sat on one of the boulders, watching things unfolded with a bored face. He did, however, moved when a few of Verde's creation almost hit him.

He waited silently by the side as they fought. His lips slowly tugged upward when Tsuna's, shortly followed by the others' resolve flared, their Dying Will Flames recharged. Easily, the beat each of Verde's creation to the ground. Even when the captured Arcobaleno were blown up one by one, his smile were still there. Although Verde is a genius, he is indeed an idiot for underestimating them.

They weren't blown up. In fact, they weren't even captured. Mammon had cast an illusion on them right after he had saw the glitter from the round machine. Annoyed, irritated and angered, they destroy, literally, the rest of the creatures. Aria had appeared after that.

Somehow, Lambo was thrown to the submarine and was out of it. (How, Ryuuichi couldn't remember because he had zoned out.) When Verde had made his move, Electrico Thunder, he quickly shield himself with a cloud flame shield around him. The rest, on the other hand, got electric shocked. The unconscious Lambo had woken up to it and was weirdly moving, or dancing, at the shock. Because the child was specialized in electrical shocks and all, he wasn't that much affected unlike the others. And, Lambo got mad.

Being him, Lambo threw bunch of grenades around him and Verde, which ended up disrupting Verde. His Electrico Thunder was cut off and Tsuna had destroyed him with X-Burner. At that moment, the Pawn-like machine that Verde shot towards the brunette was shot down by Reborn's Chaos Shot. (Ryuuichi whistled and clapped, impressed by that and was awe he managed to see it personally. That, and because the two got along again) End of story. Not. That was a robot.

They moved to a small island, called Bumpy Rock by Gokudera (Why, Ryuuichi doesn't know) where Verde's research lab was. There was a long boring talk between them but Tsuna cleared his trial anyway. The Trial of Intuition. Their rings glowed right after Verde had given his seal and Ryuuichi was sure his glowed too. Right now, there's only Reborn's seal left. Well, not that Ryuuichi was worried.

Right after that, Verde and his crocodile disappeared into this hole and the lab began to shake. That damned Arcobaleno had wanted to blast them along with the lab. They quickly ran back to the shore and just in time because the small island had crumbled down. Tsuna and the others plead for a second chance on Reborn's Trial, and had bowed.

"It's not necessary. You've passed my Trial. I asked if you were prepared to do whatever it takes as a boss to protect everyone. You showed me the answer in the fight with Verde. That's why you've passed my Trial"

All's well, ends well.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Not really. The night before they went back to the future, Ryuuichi had that dream again. He was yet again in the same darkness, where there were the screams. This time, it was much louder that he got a major headache. Somehow, he managed to wake himself up.

_"No!!!"_

He snapped open his eyes, barely realizing that he was panting and sweating  _again_. He looked around and sighed in relief that he was actually in his room. He sat up, a hand covering his eyes as he took deep breathes to calm his breathing. Yep, no doubt it still felt horrible. Actually, it was 'the world is ending and let's run away from hot burning lava which could burn you alive' feeling. Ok not really. He was exaggerating, obviously. But still, it didn't feel good at all.

'And two nights? Man someone must be messing with me...' He peeked to the clock on his table and groaned. It was only 3 in the morning. They still have about 4 to 5 hours before they need to go. If this keeps up, he had no doubt that he would get insomnia one day. It doesn't looked like he can sleep now that he's wide awake. He huffed in frustration but went to his laptop and started it up.

As he was waiting, he took out the ring from his shirt. As he had thought that it wasn't a trick of light, there were a little rainbow lining by the gap but the middle was still empty. He seriously had no idea why it was there, and how. It was there ever since Reborn had given the brunette their seal. And he just found out that it became a rainbow like lining when he was eating dinner and was bored. That, and Aria. Oh bless her soul yet don't because he had a hunch that the dreams were caused by the flame-on-his-forehead-thing. Maybe he should go and find her for this...

He perked up when there was a ding from his laptop and it was a mail from Sakura and Kei. They were asking for he and his brother's well being and such. That had him smiling and felt warm. Well, might as well take his mind away from all this head slamming things and reply the mail, and perhaps watch a few movies.

Unknown to him, the ring had glowed a little after he had taken his eyes away from it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter for the Arcobaleno Trial Arc, and by far the most boring one. Well, minus the the first and last part I guess. The next chapter will be Choice Arc and well, things will happen. Things.
> 
> The part about the betraying thing, well, I just put there for no reason. I can't remember why I had it there so yeah.
> 
> Whoever told Aria to do that will be revealed. Soon. Not now. Soon. I can't say XP.
> 
> Ryuuichi and Reborn had went to Namimori Island right after the teen got himself together.
> 
> Implied R27~ Unless someone wants the ship to really happens, I'll place it as Parental!R27. I didn't elaborated much on both Reborn and Verde's because, well, I don't find the joy and mood in rewriting it and I was lazy to. And Verde's? Well, yeah I don't really like him. NO OFFENSE TO HIS FANS.
> 
> AND YES THIS CHAPTER IS SHORT *dies*
> 
> I didn't even hit 3k words Booooo...
> 
> Ah right, about the nightmare thing, that'll be revealed somewhere in the Future Final Battle Arc. And Ryuuichi won't be getting them right after they go back to the future so don't worry.
> 
> [I apologize for any spellings, grammars, etc.etc. mistakes]


	28. Byakuran

"You guys are slow" Ryuuichi yawned, lying down on the floor of Namimori Shrine. He had been there since 6 in the morning and to be honest, it was quite eerie. The ten-year-bazooka was on the ground beside the short stairs. He pushed himself up, supported by his arms as he watched the others approached with bored eyes.

Of course, Tsuna, the children, Gokudera and Yamamoto were surprised that he was that early. Reborn had narrowed his eyes a little. He wondered if Ryuuichi had nightmares again. Shortly after their arrival, Chrome and the Sasagawa siblings arrived, leaving Hibari and Haru.

Right after the girl's name were mentioned, she arrived with a large baggage behind her. Ryuuichi sweated at that before moving to her to help carry it. He simply shrugged when she thanked him, didn't even noticed the small blush on her face.

Lambo who was in Tsuna's hands struggled. "Lambo-san's going home after all!" He jumped out of his hands, followed by I-Pin who had wanted to stop him. The two of them fell into the bazooka which blasted them to the future. At least the troublesome one had gone to the future first.

"We don't have much time. Go one after the other" Reborn said. But Hibari hasn't arrive. "Don't worry. Just go" And all of them when to the future one by one, leaving Tsuna, Reborn and Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi gave an ensuring smile to the brunette before going off too. "He'll be there. Don't worry"

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi placed the heavy bag down on the floor right after the pink smoked cleared. He nodded to both Spanner and Shoichi. He looked towards the other side, and saw Hibari. He sighed. He had long knew that the prefect had arrived first. He, after all, was the one who saw him blasting himself with it. He wondered if he should have told Tsuna about it.

A few seconds later, Reborn and Tsuna appeared, with the latter crouching on the floor. Shoichi and Spanner greeted the brunette in which Gokudera had asked for his well being. "Hibari-san didn't show up"

The said teen walked up to him. "What did you say about me?" Tsuna was surprised upon the prefect's sight and stuttered. "Hi-Hibari-san? Why are you here?!"

"Hibari-kun returned a little early" "Bah, I thought you got scared and ran" Hibari glared at Gokudera but said nothing before turning back to the Arcobaleno.

"Infant. I'll be waiting for another fight. I won't allow you to win and run" Ryuuichi sweated at that, remembering Reborn's Trial. If Hibari and Reborn really fought all out, he wonder what would happen. Reborn smirked at that. "Yeah, one of these days" Hibari seemed to be satisfied at the answer as he smirked back.

He walked away, nearer to the wall and away from the crowd. Somehow, when he passed by Ryuuichi, he dragged him along by the collar of his shirt. "Whoah what the heck!" Apparently, he had noticed the lack of sleep from the teen and had promptly sat him against the wall, saying nothing at all. Ryuuichi frowned at that, but was a little thankful since he was feeling a tad bit dizzy.

"Hey! What about Byakuran? Did he find out?" Tsuna asked, deciding to ignore the two of them in fear for his own life. Shoichi smiled and re-ensured him that the Milliefiore boss had not found out since they've just went back to the past for about ten minutes or so, much to the brunette's relief.

"So? Are you able to open the Vongola Sky Box now?" Spanner asked. Now that Tsuna think about it, he hadn't tried opening it. "If you have all the Arcobaleno Seals, that's good enough. But we must begin preparing you to fight Byakuran-san" Tsuna suddenly remembered that the girls and children were present and turned towards them. Fortunately, they were busy discussing about candies and sweets and hadn't heard what they said.

He then turned towards his guardians, and Ryuuichi. They all nodded at him, with an additional mischievious glint in Ryuuichi's eyes. Reborn called out his name, in which he nodded at him. "We can't afford to lose. That's why we came back" Not after all the shits they have been through. Not when the future is like this. He will do anything it takes to protect them all and to change the future, and as they all will too.

As for Ryuuichi, well, he'll just watch things unravel.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tsunayoshi-kun, I'll like to discuss the upcoming battles a little more." Shoichi said as he and Spanner checked the grounds above. Just as he was about to speak again, Tsuna stopped him just in time the children and the girls, along with Bianchi and Fuuta came out of the lounge room they were in.

"Bianchi, Fuuta? What is it?" Tsuna frowned upon the solemn faces of the girls. They must had felt left out. But they couldn't know. If they do..

"I'll be taking them back to the Vongola Base" Of course, Ryohei agreed. After all, the Vongola Base is much a safer place then the Melone Base. That, and they couldn't hear what Shoichi has to say to Tsuna and the others. Tsuna smiled, a little strained. "Thanks for coming to get them. I'm counting on you, Bianchi."

Of course, Kyoko and Haru didn't take it too well. "How can you say that? We're very unhappy about this!"

"We want to help out too!" "That's right! We can't go without you guys!" Kyoko and Haru protested. Tsuna didn't know what to do. He had somewhat expected it. "Thank you.. And you know, I appreciate the thought, but you shouldn't be here" Ryuuichi winced a little at the choice of words. Despite it was spoken softly, it was still a little.. Not good.

He sighed softly, knowing that the girls won't understand. Well, if he was with them, he would certainly be unhappy about it. It was as if he had no use at all, which he certainly do not like. He watched Tsuna struggled to convince them which Ryohei had helped.

"Because men have manly business to take care of" 'Just how manly is this..?' Ryuuichi deadpanned. "So please go back for now" That had managed to convince them. They backed out reluctantly, and had left with Bianchi. Fuuta, Lambo and I-Pin stayed back as they had something else to do, which Lambo wasn't really happy about it as he wanted to be with Kyoko and Haru.

"You can't always get what you want, Lambo. We need you. Look, I'll even give you this" Bribery to a child. Wow. But that certainly worked well. "Well, if Tsuna's gonna cry and beg, I'll stay."

Briefly, Ryuuichi wondered how did such a spoiled brat managed to turn into the TYL Lambo they frequently met. Might as well not know. That, and why Yamamoto sees things differently from what they normally see. In what mind did he thought that Gokudera was getting along with Lambo?

With Lambo settled, Fuuta followed Bianchi and the girls.

"The Milliefiore have been flushed from Namimori. There shouldn't be any danger." Shoichi spoke up right after the door closed. "So what did you want to talk about?" Gokudera asked, voice muffled for some reason. They turned towards him to find him stretching a Lambo's cheek whose leg were by his mouth. "We're listening so make it snappy!" They sweated.

"With the Varia's victory in Italy, we now have the advantage. All that's left is.." "Giving Byakuran an extreme beating!" Ryohei said quite enthusiastically which was yelled at by Gokudera for interrupting Shoichi.

"No" They looked around when they suddenly heard a voice. A quite familiar voice, to be exact. "We're just taking a breather. The all-out attack in Italy and the raid on Melone Base in Japan were a ton of fun" A hologram of Byakuran appeared.

"He appeared! That White Marshmallow freak!" Ryuuichi said with a bored voice, which Byakuran ignored but without glancing at him with a slight murderous glint. "I was able to witness the true strength of the strongest Vongola Squad. Very productive for a preliminary skirmish. It was also entertaining to watch Sho-chan try to fool me at Melone Base"

That had threw everyone off, except for Ryuuichi. "T-then you knew I was trying to..."

"Yep, it was plain as day. Though, it was a good plan to use this battle as an opportunity to switch sides. And to be honest, I never expected you to join forces with Vongola. But I knew you'd become my enemy one day, Sho-chan. After all you've always disapproved of my actions."

"You're wrong.."

"Well, do as you like. We'll soon see which one of us is right. Still, you have curious taste.. Entrusting the fate of the world to the young and naive Vongola Tenth. Honestly, it would be simple to throw my resources at you relentlessly and whittle the Vongola down. But you managed to entertain me so far. Besides, it hurts my pride as a leader when my second-in-command jumps ship. So I figure we should have a proper match. And official contest between the Vongola Family, led by Sawada Tsunayoshi and my Milliefiore Family"

Ryuuichi was honestly getting a little bored with his little, long-winded speech. All it all, Byakuran had wanted to fight with them, that's all. As if they weren't going to anyway. Not to mention that the white haired man probably had everything planned.

"With the Tri-Ni-Sette on the line, naturally. The timing is perfect, for a ceremony to bid farewell to Sho-chan and the old world, and ring in a new one."

Please wait, Byakuran-san! Do you believe we'll accept so readily?" Shoichi said. "You sent four to Melone Base here in Japan, one in Italy. Five of the Six Funeral Wreaths were deployed and you've lost five of the seven Mare Rings. You're just a bird with clipped wings"

"If they're real, that is..." Ryuuichi muttered loud enough for most of them to hear. They turned to him with a shocked expression. "Ohoh~ As expected of Ryuuichi-kun~ As sharp as always, aren't you~?" He scoffed at that and rolled his eyes. "Shut up and why don't you just tell them already"

"Feisty~ Well, it would be true if those had been real." As on cue, the Mare ring on Shoichi's finger cracked and shattered to the ground. "What does that mean?!" Ryuuichi avoided the prefect's slight narrowed eyes and said nothing else at all. At the same time, the Gamma's ring had broke too.

"They do contain incredible A-rank gems, but the Tri-Ni-Sette is even more special. Forgive me, but I kept another group on sly. I kept them hidden because I thought you wouldn't be able to handle a meeting. But since we're enemies now, it should be fine. Allow me to introduce you."

A large screen hologram appeared and pictures of five men and one girl appeared. "Here are the six true Guardians of the Milliefiore Family. The real six Funeral Wreaths. They were chosen to be the bearers of the authentic Mare Rings, to help me create a new world. My true guardians."

The picture shifted to six rings of different element. All of them, including Shoichi were shocked. Even Shoichi didn't knew who they were. They were never in the list of Milliefiore Family members. Of course, if he had knew about them, Byakuran would have a hard time.

"Allow me to explain. Choosing people by their strength will only take you so far. Because the power of the rings is built on resolve. So I searched within the mafia all across the globe for strong fighters with extraordinary resolve. And I choose those whose resolve would transform into loyalty. The world's a big place. But that's the reason I was able to find them. For instance"

The screen shifted to the picture of a red head, before to a picture of peaceful looking mountains and green hills. "This man hails from a very lovely homeland, full of nature, as you can see. But when I asked him to demonstrate his resolve.." The picture shifted and the same one appeared, only, there were lava and fire everywhere, as if it was hell.

"He abandoned his homeland. Scary, right? It was over in an instant. I didn't expect him to eradicate the village  _and_  the people he grew up with just to show his loyalty."

The screen showed the lava flowing down, burning the trees that were in it's way. It was too much to Tsuna. How could someone do this to their home?

Gokudera then spotted something, or rather, someone in the magma, which turned out to be the red head. He was.. Bathing in it while whistling. Here's the point. How could a human, even if he's the real Funeral Wreath, be inside a fire burning lava which could burn you into nothing, and weren't dead? Well, this is the world of Anime. What do you expect?

"You should understand the extraordinary power of the real Funeral Wreaths now. And each one of them has been given 5000 men and 100 chosen A-Rank soldiers. Ah right, before I forget"

Byakuran turned towards Ryuuichi's direction with a cunning smirk. "Ryuuichi-kun, join Milliefiore and you'll be spared from death" The rest went silence and watched them with wide eyes whilst Hibari growled. The said teen, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expect the white haired man to even try and recruit him. He simply scoffed and chuckled.

"No thanks Byakuran" The smirk from the said man dropped. Ryuuichi pushed himself up, standing with his head held high and smirking, hands in his pocket. "My loyalty lies with them" He gestured to Tsuna and the others, giving them a small smile before turning back to the man.

Byakuran, of course had knew that he would reject it. He chuckled a little menacingly. "As expected. I thought you would accept it, unlike your older self" Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes and his smile dropped. 'My older self...?'

"Well, then. It's your loss, Ryuuichi-kun. If you all can defeat us, you'll truly win. And the Milliefiore will surrender to the Vongola"

"Byakuran-san, what are you plotting?!"

"Do you remember that Choice game we used to play? We'll be playing that in real life. I'll announce the details in ten days, so sit tight for now. We won't make a move before then. Kick back and relax"

Reborn jumped down from the computer table and landed in front of Byakuran. "Don't be ridiculous. How are we supposed to relax after seeing that monster?"

"Oh, you must be the Arcobaleno, Reborn. I'd love to chat, but it's almost time. The Melone Base you're in will soon disappear. To be more precise, the Flame Ring Teleportation System within the base will move it."

The place started to slowly glow in bright, white light. Everyone other than Ryuuichi and Shoichi panicked as the whole place started to shake. And before then knew it, their sight were taken away. The impact of the teleportation had most of them falling down. Ryuuichi grabbed hold on Hibari and they along with Reborn were the ones that were still standing.

As the blinding light dispersed, the Melone Base had disappeared, except Shoichi's laboratory. Ryuuichi whistled, impressed at the work as he looked down to the void before backing away from there. "But why? Why are we still here when the base disappeared?"

"We weren't teleported because the seven Vongola Rings were in one place. They created a barrier that protect us and the device." Shoichi answered the brunette. Reborn then asked. "Did you predicted this? Is that why you brought Ryohei and his ring from the past?"

"Yeah. I've planned for a number of Byakuran-san's potential moves." Well, even though things had taken an unexpected turn, their motives are still the same. Defeat Byakuran. That was why they've returned to the future when they had a choice not to. But it would be a hard fight. With that amount of soldiers and the strengths and power from the real Funeral Wreaths, the chances of winning are slim.

"No, we can do it!" Shoichi insisted as he moved towards the Round device. "You've overcome obstacles for this very reason. Now that you're stronger, you have a chance to take them! We weren't simply trying to cause you trouble! Your training will unlock a new power"

He stopped in front of the machine and turned towards them. "A power you wouldn't have been able to use without becoming stronger" He placed a hand on it, and it started to glow. Six flames of different element other than the Sky turned in the small hole in the center of it. "They're a gift from the Vongola boss of this time. Don't hesitate to take them." Flames were shot towards the guardians and six boxes were in their hands.

"The Vongola Boxes for your Guardians. These are the Vongola Boxes left by the Vongola Tenth from this time"

"I-I left them?" Gokudera eyes sparkled in admiration. "Thank you so much for thinking of me, Juudaime!"

"Uhh, Gokudera-kun. The future me did this.."

"I thought that the Sky Box would be enough, but I wasn't expecting the real Funeral Wreaths. Vongola Tenth had much better foresight when he prepared boxes for all the Guardians"

And then, Squalo's voice was heard over the transmitter. Ryuuichi winced at the volume and immediately took it off, rubbing at his ear, seeing that they could literally hear his voice even without it anyway.

"You shits are still alive, yeah?! Listen up! At this point, all the members of the Vongola are in the same lot. It doesn't matter if you're a bunch of brats-" A rock was thrown at his head as he angrily shouted at his boss. "You!"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi" Xanxus spoke. "Did you finally matured a little bit? In ten days, you'd better prove that the Vongola are the strongest." Annddd, the connection was cut off, presumely that Xanxus had broken the transmitter.

"'Prove that the Vongola are the strongest'? Who does that shit think he is?"

"Well, either way, they should be on our side this time. And now.." Reborn held his gun towards Ryuuichi, who was still rubbing his ringing ear, eyes shadowed by his fedora. "Explain. Now" Everyone fell into silence as Ryuuichi sweated, wondering if he should have just shut up that time.

He sighed and held out his hand, pointer finger indicating a number. "One, yes, I knew about the fake ring  _and_  the real Funeral Wreaths. Two, I know Byakuran  _but_!" He emphasized his word upon the open mouths. "That was the first time I ever talked to him. Three, I definitely had no idea why he would try to recruit me nor about the thing he has with my older self. And lastly" True, he hadn't had a clue why Byakuran had did that. And the fact that he had once tried recruiting his older self wasn't even mentioned in the letter his older self had written.

His older self sure has a lot of secrets. And here he thought that he has more.

He stood straighter. "You all have my word I will always by your side and that I will never be your enemy. My loyalty lies with you guys. " His eyes gleamed, showing that he was in fact, very serious and his words shouldn't be taken lightly. Reborn, although wasn't satisfied, but slowly lowered his gun, much to his relief.

The others, too, nodded slowly. He sighed in relief. "Thank you.." He muttered in a small voice, but it was heard.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter of the Choice Arc!!
> 
> I just realized that the part with Byakuran was long winded as heck but I can't seem to find a part to cut off so yeah.
> 
> Well, they were used to Ryuuichi not telling them the truth so they didn't asked further but chose to believe him. After all they been through together with him, they knew better than not to believe him. Reborn too.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi had almost screamed Hibari appeared at the shrine.. Via trees. Yes. Via trees. So imagine yourself sitting on the porch of the silent Shrine when suddenly the trees and bushes rustled and someone jumped out of it. Yeah.
> 
> No, Haru do not have a crush on Ryuuichi even if he had helped him with the huge baggage. He was just helping. Anddd Haru still has this crush on Tsuna so yeah.
> 
> I just realize how the time when the truth would be revealed is getting nearer. Well, not exactly but if you compare to the time when I've started writing this? Holy shit. And Nope. I'm still not revealing anything yet so MWAHAHHAHAHAHA.
> 
> [I apologize for any spellings, grammars, etc.etc. mistakes]


	29. TYL Dino

Right after they had went back to the Vongola base and had greeted the rest of them, Ryuuichi went straight to his floor and made a beeline to his room. Right after locking the door, he slipped out of his shoes and promptly flopped down onto his bed. He sighed tiredly and snuggled into the warm cover, trying to go to sleep. He had, after all, been awake for almost 7 hours without a nap. At the back of his mind, he hoped with all his might that he wouldn't be dreaming  _that_  again.

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During lunch, Basil from their era had came. He had first appeared in Spain, with only a box weapon and a Helper's book with orange flame lit on it. And because of his Mammon Chain which had loosen from his fight with Milliefiore to Japan, which led Tsuna and the others into a wild goose chase. It happened a few times until the finally found him near one of the secret entrances to the base to which the first thing he did was collapse out of hunger.

And during the whole commotion where they ran like headless chicken, Ryuuichi had not woke up and was asleep soundly in his room, with music softly playing at the background. Tsuna had initially wanted to wake him up for food but Reborn had stopped him, with a gun, in the face. The infant had said to leave him alone, knowing that he hadn't sleep the night before. (He did went to check on the teen for a while)

Ryuuichi was indeed in deep sleep, and the previous nightmares were no more. But instead, he had dreamt about his usual dreams, which were a bunch of random, weird and out of the world stuffs which somewhat involved giant fish, flowers, certain cursed papers and books (Read. Assignments and homework), and so on.

Weird as it is, Ryuuichi still slept like a baby, as if there wasn't an upcoming war. It wasn't until his stomach suddenly hurt did he woke up. He groggily opened his eyes and curled up a little, trying ease the pain a little but to no avail. He was getting gastric for not eating breakfast and lunch. He slowly and unwillingly pushed himself up from the bed, glancing at his watch before realizing that he had slept for about 8 hours. He yawned, and stretched his body, hearing cracks.

He trotted to the bathroom to wash his face, still half asleep. He then wore his shoes and went to the kitchen. There, he was greeted by a kinds of shouting and squealing, and of course, happy chatters.

"Yo..." He greeted back with no energy and sat beside Tsuna, and had promptly slumped on the table. "R-ryuuichi? What's wrong?"

"Gastric..." He winced a little at the pain. Upon hearing that, Haru hurried to get a set of rice for the teen to which he thanked her. And then, they started eating. Lambo as usual, was perky and had tried to stole the others food which led to I-Pin stopping him, which led to Gokudera shouting at him and- well, you get the point.

The whole time they ate, Ryuuichi was silence, the pain slowly disappeared, to his relief. "How's your sleep, Ryuuichi?" Reborn suddenly asked, uncharacteristically concern. The said teen nodded. "It was ok" He finally spoke, voice still soft. Well, he wasn't in the mood to deal with all the shits at the moment.

He then turned to Tsuna. "What are we going to do tomorrow again?"

"Eh?"

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The next day, they had went out to look at the Namimori that hadn't changed much even after 10 years. Bianchi and Tsuna went to Haru's house, the Sasagawa siblings to theirs', Yamamoto took the children to the park whilst Gokudera would loiter around. Ryuuichi, on the other hand, had straight went to Namimori Middle School, where Hibari was.

It was as if he didn't want to visit his home of this era, but he had simply felt that there were stuffs that he shouldn't know about, so he didn't ventured. Instead, he went to disturb the prefect. At first he had simply disturbed him at the roof top, but shortly after that he got bored so he ended up strolling around the school, exploring it. He hadn't really had the chance to properly look at it even though he had been studying there for almost two years.

He stopped by his classroom and chuckled, remembering that he and Yuuichi had sat together by the window, with the younger in front of him, despite the protests they got from the teachers. But the teachers ended up relenting seeing that they wouldn't listen, and knowing that they wouldn't talk in class.

Then, he went to the laboratory, the music room, and then the gymnasium, where everything started. He had first planned on approaching the brunette here, and had watched him fight here too. It wasn't just the gymnasium. The courtyard where he and Yuuichi would sometimes eat lunch at, the roof top when they joined Tsuna and the others, and the Reception room. Definitely the reception room.

(There was one time when he was so bored and was having sugar rush at the moment, he had waltz in with a mischievious grin plastered on his face, only to find Hibari fast asleep on the black couch. He, feeling very playful, silently neared the sleeping prefect and crouched down. He stared at his face, before finally poking it. The touch had Hibari waking up, and glared at him. Let's just say they had quite a game of tag.)

He snickered before looking up to the sky, noticing that the sun was beginning to set. He walked back to the roof top, and met Tsuna and the others on the way. They all looked up to the sky, feeling at peace. The determination to win this battle spiked up.

'We'll definitely win'

By the other side of the building, on the roof top, lies a Hibari Kyouya as he observed his box weapon with Hibird on his shoes. He was complaining about how noisy they were when the voice of a certain blonde was heard.

"Now, don't be like that" He sat up and immediately dropped into his fighting stance. There, shadowed by the water tank, sat Dino. "They look sharp. I can probably leave them alone for the time being. Wait, hold on, Kyouya. Don't be in such a rush. I'll be sure to train you well.

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Ryuuichi had stayed in his own quarters the whole day, training and only had come out of it for toilet and food. He was, after all, the weakest among the others at the moment. That, and he still couldn't lit up the freaking ring.

He sighed when the dummies were sliced down, burning in purple flames. He was having close combat training, still using the bow. Before that, he was training his gun (As in, real gun) and apparently, he found out that he could actually pump flames into the gun like Xanxus's. Though, he had also found out that whatever shot or cut by his flames, it would ended up burning.

He sweated at the burnt dummies that were on the floor. 'Now I know why my older self would have those coating...'

His flames are... Really flammable.

He shook his head and walked to his water bottle. Taking a drink, he remembered his box weapon. He place the bottle back down on the table and picked up the box which was beside it. He wondered what kind of box weapon it is. But then again, the point should be how was he going to open it.

He looked at the box, then to the cloud ring, then back to the box. He lit the ring up and injected. 

He was blinded by a sudden bright light and when it has dispersed, his jaw slacken and his eyes were wide open.

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When Shoichi was explaining about Choice, Ryuuichi, who was present courtesy of Reborn whom had dragged him out of his quarter, was burying his head into his crossed arm, wanting to go to sleep. He was feeling tired from the flame depletion after all that training, so he had been yawning this whole time. Fortunately, the others had paid not much him to him, and continued to talk about it.

Somehow, they managed to come to a conclusion on having a 'friendly' contest between Giannini and Spanner. Of course, Shoichi too would be busy with whatever he was planning. The three engineers slash technicians had literally forgotten the world as they concentrated on finished their respective projects, even food. They were so deep in it that they hadn't realized the brunette's present when he had delivered them their dinner.

Ryuuichi, too, had visited them. He was actually resting because if he continued training, he would no doubt collapse, and had decided to walk around. First one was Giannini, as he only take one glance at the man and had walked off. He doesn't want to disturb him. Shoichi and Spanner too, but they were much hilarious.

He had actually sat in between them for almost 10 minutes before they realize him. They were so surprised that they yelped out loud and jumped in unison. He snickered at their face before going off, but not after he gave a good luck.

As he walked back to his room, he briefly wondered when will a certain blonde appear.

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"Holy shit!!" Ryuuichi braced himself when a huge vibration knocked him over his feet as he fell onto the ground. He groaned, rubbing his back and slowly pushed himself up, careful not to slip because of the wet floor again. He was in the bathroom and just finished his shower when he suddenly felt something akin to an earthquake, which really wasn't.

He sighed, quickly wore his clothing and had went up to Tsuna's room, where the source of the vibrations was. The brunette must have opened his box weapon. He managed to arrive at the same time Dino had, the commotion had ended.

"That was Tsuna's fault. That wasn't how your box weapon should look. Sky boxes are especially delicate" Dino said, still sitting on his horse. "If you keep opening your box like that, it'll no longer be usable" He then turned towards the teen with darker brown hair, which was wet, and smiled.

"Yo" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow, and returned his greetings. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he moved closer to see the damage and whistled, impress despite the destruction. His gaze landed on the wet brunette and sighed. 'As expected, huh..'

"Still, you were still a bunch of kids ten years ago" For some reason, even though that statement wasn't directed to him, Ryuuichi felt irked at it and he not so lightly slapped the man on his leg. "Shut it, 'old man'"

"You're a kid yourself, showing up this late. Did you get lost?" Dino smiled at the sight of a certain Arcobaleno. "I never expected to see you again, my teacher, Reborn" He said softly. The Reborn, and the other Arcobaleno except Lal Mirch and the Sky, of this era had died, thanks to the Tri-Ni-Sette. His heart thumped when he saw his supposedly dead teacher.

Reborn smirked at that. He knew whatever the Cavallone boss was thinking. "What's with that look? You're still green behind the ear after ten years?"

"Heh, still treating me like a kid after all this years" When Dino moved to get of his horse, he slipped and fell onto the ground. Ryuuichi face-palmed and shook his head. Dino was still a klutz when his subordinates weren't around. He lent a hand to the blonde and had pulled him up. He pushed away the fact that his hand seemed to linger on his.

"Uh, Dino-san... Where are your men?" Tsuna asked.

"I sent Romario off to drink with Kusakabe three hours ago"

Cue sweat drops from everyone. "Yeah, why are you here? Isn't your family having a hard time fighting the Milliefiore?" Gokudera then asked, no, more like demanded.

"We would, if Ryuuichi wasn't there" The said teen pointed at himself. "Hah?" Dino chuckled and grinned, ruffling the teen's hair. "Well, your older self had joined forces with us and had won against the fight with Milliefiore. Currently, seeing that your older self wasn't there, Vindice had declared that Cavallone and the Giudizio are temporary under their protection. Well, how your older self did it was a wonder"

"Vindice?!" Ryuuichi pinched the bridge of his nose when an arm slung across his shoulder, pulling him nearer to the man. "You know, your older self was awesome~ He managed to make the Milliefiore retreat in just five hours"

Right. He seriously had no more idea what was with his older self and buried his face in his palm. The others jaw slacken at that. They did somewhat knew that the older Ryuuichi was strong, but they never knew that he was  _that_  strong.

"But... The victory in Italy will be nothing if we don't defeat Byakuran. Which means that everything rest on you guys" Dino suddenly turned serious. "Well, don't worry. That's why I've come all the way out here"

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And they decided to have a welcome party to Dino. The blonde had wanted to surprise them but ended up creating another headless chicken chase, with a human eating Enzo that supposed to rejuvenate them, but ended up making Tsuna even more tired. Ryuuichi was hid himself in the kitchen, helping the girls preparing the food because the mere thought of being eaten disgusted him.

That night, just as he was about to sleep, Dino had not so sneakily sneaked into his room. He was actually awake, and had faked it. Dino had silently walked up to his bed and sat down beside him. He heard a chuckle and a warm hand on top of his head.

Dino, whom had thought that the teen was asleep, softly stroked his head. His eyes soften at the quite adorable sight before sighing silently. "Seriously, I wished that you would've told me about your plans before you go off, Ryuuichi.." He softly whispered. True, the older Ryuuichi was fighting the Milliefiore before he had deemed that his work was done and had left without a word, leaving Vindice to take over.

Ryuuichi seemed to have his way with the cold blooded mafia police and even managed to asked them for help. Heck, he was even surprised when he had heard that Vindice was an ally of Giudizio. Dino sighed again.

Ryuuichi almost raised an eyebrow at Dino's words, although he knew that the man wasn't referring to him. When the man sighed twice, he snapped open his eyes and pulled him onto the bed with a surprising amount of strength that he didn't knew he had in him. They somehow ended with Ryuuichi on top of Dino, while Dino blinked in surprised as his back landed on the soft queen bed.

"R-r-ryuuichi?! You're awake?!" The said teen scoffed and raised an eyebrow at why the man doesn't seem to be unfazed about the fact that he was on top of him. Somehow, he doesn't want to know why.

(Dino on the other hand, were struggling to not groan and blush at his lameness. He should have known that he wasn't even asleep. That, and the fact that he was actually pulled down by someone younger than him. But then again, he wasn't really complaining about it. It wasn't as it he had never experience it.)

"Yeah" His hand was on top the man's chest (No he hadn't know how the hell they ended up there so don't ask) when he felt something hard and box like. The man suddenly pushed himself up and he ended up on his lap. "Well, since you're awake, I might as well give you this now before I forgotten.." He pulled out the same box Ryuuichi had felt from his jacket and handed him.

"Here. Your older self told me to give this to you?" Right, first was Shoichi, now it was Dino? What in the world? He gingerly took the box and examined it, somewhat forgetting that he was on his lap and was actually quite close to Dino. His eyes widen when he noticed the element of the box. He turned towards Dino and asked.

"You knew about my flames?"

Dino nodded. "Who else knew about it?"

"So far, only me, Kyoya, Tsuna and Reborn" Ryuuichi looked a little thoughtful. 'Then does he know about...'

"Then do you know about my memories?" This time, Dino raised an eyebrow and gave him a look, similar to what the older Hibari had gave him. "What memories?" He sighed, and shook his head. "No.. Never mind" He had expected that.

"What about this?" He pulled out the ring that was chained around his neck and showed it to Dino. Dino inspected it, fingering it as he spoke. "Not really. All I know was that your older self had this around with him for almost a year before it suddenly disappeared. Figures that it would be with you" He chuckled. True, he had seen the ring before, but the older Ryuuichi hadn't told him anything about it. He had simply smiled and said 'It isn't mine'.

Though, he couldn't understand why that he said it wasn't his when in reality it was with him, even if it was his younger self.

They sat there, with Ryuuichi deep in though, until the younger finally realized their positions. Nope, he didn't blushed. "Sorry" As he was just about to move away, Dino had wrapped his arms around him and locked him there. He was pulled closer to his chest as Dino tighten his embrace.

"Wait.. Let's stay like this longer..." Ryuuichi could feel the tension from the man, and gave up from getting away. (He did wondered why the man was feeling tense for no reason)

Let's just say that the 'longer' was the whole night.

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"Ah right. Your parents and brother are in Italy, under Cavallone and Vindice protection too"

"................................................"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that I hadn't really wrote like this in a while.
> 
> Gastric is a pain in the back... I've been experiencing it occasionally ever since last year.. Perhaps it was because I didn't eat much for breakfast before going to school...
> 
> Fun Fact= TYL Ryuuichi had a reputation in the Mafia world. He was very strong, and might be even stronger than TYL Hibari. He had fought with the Milliefiore as a support for Cavallone before disappearing to join Hibari. (Anddd the nickname Demon rose again) [Current me= No he's notttt. He's not stronger than TYL Hibariiiii]
> 
> Fun Fact= Dino was used to the skin contact with Ryuuichi, like how Hibari was too. Please don't ask why. AND NO IT WASN'T WHATEVER YOU GUYS ARE THINKING
> 
> [I apologize for any spellings, grammars, etc.etc. mistakes]


	30. Tutor and Strike

"We'll be starting serious box weapon training today. As Reborn's first student, I'll be in charge of tutoring you guys. I'm looking forward"

Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow, wondering if he would be tutored too. Probably yes, seeing that he had been called here. Though, he wondered who would tutor him. It wasn't as if he doesn't know anything. He glanced towards the others, whom were all fired up, before turning back towards Dino to find a cosplaying-Reborn suspended by wires.

"Pffft!"

He quickly covered his mouth and snickered hard, trying not to make a sound. "By the way.. This time, I'll be serving as Dino's superior, the tutor fairy." Reborn dressed as a fairy, waved his 'wand' around, his hat, Leon, blinked. "If Dino slips up, I'll lay down the law so don't worry" He swayed once before kicking Dino in the face for a few times.

"Well, I'll flutter back down if anything comes up. Ciao ciao~" And, he went back up. Ryuuichi sweated when the Arcobaleno mysteriously disappeared.

"So let's get started. But first, Chrome.." Dino turned towards the said girl with serious face. "I need to confirm your intentions. You're a Vongola Guardian but at the same time you're one of Mukuro's followers. Can we consider you an ally in the battle against the Milliefiore?"

Everyone was silent as they waited for her answers, tensed, even. Although they knew she's trustworthy, but in terms of loyalty, they didn't really know. Chrome may be with them, but she could simply turn her back against them with just Mukuro's words. Or, so they had thought. Ryuuichi, on the other hand, believed her fully. He knew that she's their ally, and will always be. Not to mention she, even though shy and timid, is brave enough to defy Mukuro. Well, not now anyway.

Chrome gripped her trident tighter and nodded. "Yes. I want to do better and become a stronger person. Because I think that will lead me back to the past" Chrome had always believed that she will always be a burden to everyone around her, but after meeting Mukuro, whom had saved her, and Tsuna and the others, it had changed. They had slowly taught her that she would never be a burden to any of them, one way or another. Though, it wasn't said verbally, she had felt it through their sincerity to be closer to her. [Especially the girls] Well, a certain bomber still couldn't fully accept her.

Dino seemed to accepted her answer and smiled. "Ok. We're counting on you. And we'll have Lambo do some serious training. The power of every guardian is needed to defeat Byakuran"

Of course, Gokudera didn't liked that decision, but had begrudgingly accepted. Tsuna had hesitated. He hadn't want Lambo to fight because he's still very young, but the child is still one of his guardians, so he had not much choices.

"I heard a few things about your Vongola Boxes from the Tsuna of this era. Going from that, I intend for you to engage in individual training regimes. I should mention that Hibari Kyouya has already begun his training with me."

"Eh? Hibari-san? Wait, you found Hibari-san?" Ryuuichi deadpanned at the brunette, but said nothing. 'Since when he was missing..?'

"Yeah, though, he's still a stubborn one. Then, Sawada Tsunayoshi. I'll start by telling you your training program" Tsuna stood straighter at that. "You have to stay alone until you figure out how to properly open your Vongola Box." He didn't take that quite well. He hadn't expected that he would be training alone, and what would he even figure out by himself?!

"You'll be alone, but you'll still have your box weapon. When there's trouble with a box weapon, the user has to stay with it" By trouble, Dino probably meant by the time when a flaming-monster came out of his box.

"Just stay with it? Uh, is that it?"

"That was your hint"

"Next is Gokudera Hayato. You will look after the box weapon beginner, Sasagawa Ryohei and Lambo as well." Gokudera shouted in question. He didn't liked the fact that he had to  _babysit_  those two. Perhaps the baseball star would be tolerable, but  _those_  two? No way in seventh hell.

But of course, he had crumbled into submission when Tsuna had praised him and immediately said otherwise, with a prideful look. "But if I can be of service, I will do everything I can!"

"I'm against it. I don't want Octopus head teaching me. Extremely depressing." Wait, was Ryohei pouting?

"Lambo-san doesn't like that fool"

Well, they didn't have other choice anyway. Dino didn't paid much heed at the commotion, and turned to Chrome. "Next is Chrome Dokuro. In order to strengthen your box weapon, half your time will be spent training from the Illusion Enhancement Program left by the Arcobaleno, Mammon. The rest of your time will be spent on improving your combat skills. With the help of those two"

Bianchi and I-Pin waved at them from the side of the room, smiling.

Then, the blonde walked to Yamamoto. "Yamamoto Takeshi" The said teen cheerfully greeted back, and was even excited for the training but to his surprise. "You get a pass. On standby. Beside, I can't touch you. If I teach you something wrong, that guy will send me flying"

"The person who understands your talent the best is dead serious. Yamamoto Takeshi, this training may turn you into something crazy" And he said no more, letting the teen figure it out by himself. And lastly, he turned towards Ryuuichi.

"And Shiroki Ryuuichi" Ryuuichi simply nodded, waiting for the man to continue. Dino had paused for a while as he observed Ryuuichi. Sure, he was the same as the older one, but he could tell that they weren't. In terms of stamina and fighting skills. He did knew that Ryuuichi took up self defenses and could fight against Hibari, but that wasn't enough. The older Ryuuichi had much a crazy level. How he reached it was unknown to Dino.

Though, perhaps it was unnecessary.

Ryuichi raised an eyebrow at the long silence. "Dino?" The man immediately cut off his thoughts and continued. "Sorry. Right, your training will be more focused on close combat, supervised by me."

Ryuuichi nodded and shrugged, before holding out a hand. "Sure, but with one condition" He smirked, knowing that Dino wouldn't deny it. And he was right when Dino nodded. "You'll only train me for a day. The rest would be focused on Hibari"

"W-what?! But-!"

"The main one isn't me at the moment, Dino. You should know that" He shoved his hands into his pockets. "And besides, one day is enough"

Dino ended up accepting that reluctantly.

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'Shoulder' A punch to the left shoulder. 'Waist' A chop down the sides. 'Legs' A leg swiftly swiped the two legs off the ground, making the man fall onto the ground. Ryuuichi panted, tired after training for almost the whole day non-stop. Dino rubbed his sore back and waist on the ground. Briefly, he wondered how did the teen managed to improve in such short time. 'Then again, he  _is_  a genius...'

A hand was held out in front of him, indicating him to take it. He smiled at Ryuuichi, grabbing the hand before promptly tug the teen down. They rolled on the floor til the older pinned him down. "Never underestimate or let your guard down to your enemy, Ryuuichi" He smirked.

Ryuuichi huffed in annoyance, lightly punching Dino in the stomach as he no longer have much energy. He sprawled on the ground, sighing. They had sparred ever since the blonde had given them their regimes, not even resting for one second. They have decided to forgone their weapons as Dino had wanted to teach him more about hand combats and all. Well, it's a good lesson, Ryuuichi must say.

Dino chuckled breathily at the teen's tired face. He rolled over and laid down on the floor too, beside Ryuuichi. They stayed in that position for a while, calming their breathing in silence until the younger one spoke. "Thanks for the training" He muttered. Dino simply hummed in acceptance.

"So, Ryuuichi. Do you think we'll win?" Dino asked, surprising the said teen. Ryuuichi then smirked. "Of course"

With that, Dino felt as if a weight had been taken off his shoulder. He would always believe everything Ryuuichi said, and would never doubt it. At first, he, as others, wouldn't really believe Ryuuichi, but after one time where what Ryuuichi had said came true, he did, and from then on, not once did he take whatever a serious Ryuuichi said lightly.

(He rather not get another bruise in the stomach after all)

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"Uwaaaa.. You guys look roasted..." Ryuuichi said, walking towards Tsuna and the others as he rolled his shoulders. He sweated at Lambo, Ryohei, Gokudera and Uri's condition. 'Must be Lambo's...'

"Ah Ryuuichi. How's your training with Dino-san?" The said teen shrugged, massaging his neck. "Yeah it was alright" It did went well, but after they cooled down their body, Ryuuichi's muscles were starting to get quite sore as heck. Hell, it even hurt when he was walking.

"Um... We know this is sudden..." "But we need to talk"

He blinked at Bianchi, Kyoko and Haru's sudden appearance. He sighed inaudibly, knowing what would they do already. He locked eyes with them briefly, smiling softly, as if accepting whatever they would do. "W-what's wrong? Did something happened? Uh.. Did we do something?" The brunette asked, somewhat nervous.

He felt that whatever they would be talking about, it wouldn't be easy to answer. Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei went into defense mode, denying that they had done something wrong. Haru shadowed her eyes. "There's no point in trying to fool us, so I'll get right to the point"

"We want you to tell us about the Milliefiore and Byakuran and boxes. Give us more details about what's happening right now" Her eyes showed seriousness that most hadn't seen before. They, minus Ryuuichi, were surprised that she, and Kyoko, knew and wanted to know more. How did they knew? They were especially careful about it.

"W-w-what are you talking about? Byakuran? Milliefiore? W-what are those?" Tsuna stuttered as he avoided their eyes.

"We've had enough of your lies! We know that the rest of you have been keeping information from us. We have a right to know the truth when we're living together!" Haru pressed on as Kyoko silently agreed beside her.

Tsuna wondered what had brought on it, and had asked whether it was Bianchi who told them, to which she denied, saying that they were the ones who found it out by themselves.'How-?'

"Tsuna-kun.." Kyoko finally spoke. "We want to fight with you!"

Ryuuichi looked towards the brunette and despite he was looking at his back, he could see the turmoil in him. The brunette thought that it was a very  _very_  bad idea letting them know about it. Ryuuichi sighed again, shoving his hands into his pocket whilst leaning against a leg as he watched things unfolded.

"I'm glad you feel that way, but it's just a little longer. Just a little longer and everything will be over, and we can return to our original world. So could you have faith in us and hold on a little longer?"

The girls had already expected the answer. They knew that it wouldn't be easy, and had prepared for that outcome. This would show them petty boys to not underestimate girls. They reached behind and grabbed a wooden stick. "As long as you refuse to tell us the truth, we won't do any housework!" They took out the banners. "And we'll boycott living together!"

Tsuna and the others sweated. Although they briefly knew how to do housework, but that's just that. Not to mention boycotting? Tsuna tried to look for help from Bianchi but the woman supported the girls. Chrome and I-Pin, suddenly coming out of nowhere, too, supported their decisions.

Of course, they tried to convince them, but it was a futile attempt as they were firm with it. And then, Reborn dressed as a girl, with both Fuuta and Giannini, also dressed as girls, appeared. They were siding Kyoko and Haru. If anything, Giannini looked hilarious. Ryuuichi quickly covered his mouth, whole body shaking from silent laughters.

He finally stopped when the Strike group walked away, shaking his head at that.

"This is an unexpected turn of events" Gokudera deducted. Ryuuichi rolled his eyes behind him. 'No shit, Sherlock' They had somehow went to the kitchen and sat in a circle, discussing. Of course, Tsuna still felt that the girls shouldn't know about it. He wanted to protect them from the dark side of the world. They didn't wanted them to be involved.

"Man... They have no idea how the boss feels. I agree that we shouldn't tell them" Gokudera clicked his tongue. Yamamoto then added his own two cents "Well, I feel bad about how they're the only ones who don't know"

"That's true.." Ryohei, of course, strongly disagreed on letting them know, especially his younger sister seeing that she's his only sister. What an overprotective brother.

"W-what about you, Ryuuichi?" Ryuuichi blinked out of his daydreaming and stared, before huffing, leaning back to the chair. "It's your decision. Though, I'll tell you that they would definitely know about it one day"

"But.."

"You know, you shouldn't simply think that girls are weak and needed to be protected. They are stronger than you think. And, never underestimate a girl" He smirked the I-know-something-you-don't-smirk before standing up. "Welp, you're the one to decide since you would be the one answering them."

He laughed at the dreaded face of the brunette's.

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And so, they ended up doing all the houseworks themselves. Ryuuichi somewhat got the cooking job, to which Ryuuichi deadpanned and said that he can't cook, unless they wanted him to die, that is. Tsuna sweated at that and switched with him, so Ryuuichi ended up with the laundries with Ryohei. Well, at least he didn't have to clean Lambo.

Everything went quite well for their part, but they ended up eating sushi-not-sushi. Ryuuichi face-palmed and went to search for cup noodles or ramen. Well, it wasn't as if they weren't edible. It was just that he couldn't really eat them. Especially those wrapped in cheese, rather than seaweed. Not to mention Gokudera literally burnt the stove when he cooked.

The others gave up and followed Ryuuichi, resorting on eating cup noodles.

The next day, Ryuuichi ended up the one cleaning everything as  _everything_  was a mess. When he had stepped into the kitchen, he literally gave the condition of it a disgusted look. The others, on the other hand, were all stressed about it even though it has only been a day. (Ryuuichi then gave them the I-told-you-so-stare)

Though, they were all still stubborn about telling the girls about what has been going on, which Ryuuichi had enough. He scoffed and threw away the rubbish, before going off, feeling irritated for various of reason. As he walked back to his room, his hands were clenching and unclenching all the time.

Right after locking the door, he leaned against the door and slid down, sitting on the ground with his eyes covered. He was actually losing control of his temper since the moment the girls declared strike and boycott. Perhaps it was because everything was coming closer to revelation that had him all but calm. Although he looked collected, he was actually annoyed most of the times and had to suppress the bloody urge to maim something, or someone. Well, not like he would actually do it.

He sighed, rubbing his temple before forcing himself up again. Perhaps he should de-stress first before he actually really did hurt someone, physically and mentally.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi was burying his face into his arms, again, on the table. They were all called into the meeting room as Dino had wanted to check on their progress. He was the first to arrive, and had immediately sat down right after answering the blonde, feeling tired and flame deprived, once again. (He did released a large amount of flames before he was called. And, pity the walls)

And slowly, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei and Tsuna tumbled in, with the brunette as the last one. As he was talking about his box weapon when the large monitor on the wall showed this picture of, mutated 'pac-man's? Ryuuichi couldn't seem to see whatever the thing was, and there was this annoying tune. The white things were all gathered into the center, when suddenly a white haired chibi appeared, saying Byakuran in a cheerful voice.

Suddenly, the picture of the chibi shattered as a familiar laughter was heard and they were connected to Byakuran eating a large parfait. Ryuuichi lifted up his head and leaned on his propped up arm.

"Well? Was that amusing? I was bored so I came to play" Ryuuichi scoffed at the childish excuse. As if that Marshmallow Freak came to play just because he was bored. He even taunted everyone with his desert. "I'm actually making a courtesy call about Choice"

"Courtesy call...?"

"I said that I'd give you the details later, right? Be at Namimori Shrine at noon in six day" The others were surprised, thinking that they would be fighting in Namimori, which wasn't exactly correct.

"For now, make the necessary preparations and bring everyone with you. You'll at least need to bring all your friends who came from the past" Byakuran's smile dropped as they protested. "It's more meaningful this way. You'll be disqualified if anyone's missing"

And with a good luck to them, he cut off the connection, leaving most of them in shock. "I won't allow that to happen!" Ryohei shouted. Though, they couldn't do anything. If the condition wasn't met, they would be disqualified. It was frustrating, but they had no choice. Reborn just had to spill the beans about Tsuna already told the girls about everything, huh.

"S-sorry. I told them. I felt that Kyoko-chan and Haru also deserve to know the truth" The brunette flinched a little when Ryohei's fist impacted with the aluminium wall, making a large dent. He had somewhat expected that the teen's reaction. "How did Kyoko react.."

The others tried to calm him down, to which he was actually tearing up as he asked the question again. "Sh-she listened to everything I had to say." Tsuna's head was down as he suddenly found the floor even more interesting to watch. Dino then said that it was the right decision. They couldn't really hide this secret forever anyway. Not to mention that if the girls were to know it even later, they would be hurt.

Ryohei didn't took that very well, but he slowly accepted it. He really didn't wanted them to know. The dark side of the world wasn't, and isn't something nice, and perhaps never will. He simply stayed silent, fists clenched tight.

Still, how did Byakuran access our network" Reborn question, which were answered by a certain long haired man who was carrying a large fish, Tuna to be precise. Dino smiled at his appearance. "Your security's a joke. Damn amateurs" It was Squalo. Ryuuichi deadpanned at the still dripping water dead fish, barely noting that Squalo's bangs were longer.

The man walked towards Dino, handing him the fish. "A gift" "Thanks" Tsuna couldn't comprehend why Squalo would present someone a fish, not to mention a Tuna.

"You're late, Squalo. Your student's tired of waiting" The said man was silent as he walked towards the baseball star, giving him a punch and kneed him on the stomach, rendering him unconscious. He hoisted him up onto his shoulder as if Yamamoto was a sack of potatoes.

"I'd rather kill this scum myself. I'll be taking this scum with me" And with that, he had walked away. Tsuna tried to stop him, but Dino had prevented him to, saying that Squalo's the one who understands Yamamoto, and is the one most suitable as a tutor for him. "Sawada!" Tsuna was suddenly punched in the face, the force pushing him back onto his butt.

Gokudera rushed towards the brunette, in concern. "What are you doing to Juudaime!?"

Ryohei's raised fist were trembling as he spoke. "I can't forgive you for getting Kyoko involved. But I'm also a man! One punch and I can move on!"

Ryuuichi sighed at the commotion as Gokudera tried to fight with the boxer. He simply boredly stared at them whilst Dino tried to calm the bomber down.

'Well, at least this wasn't a full blown fight'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be where all the actions of Choice Arc begins~!
> 
> Dino would never doubt Ryuuichi's words ever since the time he had accidentally pissed off Reborn and was tortured by the hitman. The bruise actually lasted a month plus.
> 
> The tutor thing was just that I've no idea what to write for this chapter and it just, popped out.
> 
> Well, there's not much to say about this chapter... So yeah. And it wasn't really Ryuuichi centric...
> 
> [I apologize for any spellings, grammars, etc.etc. mistakes]


	31. Choice

"You look sharp!" Shoichi praised, really awed by Tsuna and the others' attire. They were fitted into matching suits, even Ryuuichi. They were dressed in white dress shirt with a black suit over it. They had even wore black ties. Ryuuichi was fidgeting and adjusting his collar, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable and choked. As for the non-fighters, they wore maroon suits, adorned with dark brown ties.

"It's actually a little embarrassing." Tsuna sheepishly said. He wasn't used to wearing suits at all, and this would probably be the first time wearing it for all he can remember about his childhood. Though, he had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time he would wear them.

"I had them specially made to order for this fight. The Vongola Mafia began as a vigilante group to protect people." Reborn began. "Each generation of the Vongola Family has donned this formal attire when risking their lives in battle to fulfill that duty" For some reason, Ryuuichi felt that that wasn't the case. The first generation of Vongola Family wore differently. Well, he might as well not know.

"The Vongola Family started off as a model organization. Though they may have dabbled in unspeakable acts later on." Tsuna sweated at that. "That's the problem!"

"But.. But there isn't anything wrong about this fight! You are definitely doing the right thing!" Ryuuichi snickered. Shoichi was a little too fired up. The teen shook his head at that, smiling a little. Of course, he too felt excited. After all, they would finally,  _finally_  begun the battle.

"I-Irie-san" "Could you stop using my last name like I'm a stranger? I'm one of you guys now. Feel free to call me Shoichi" Tsuna hesitated, but ended up calling the man Shoichi-kun. Shoichi nodded, before turning serious again, something Ryuuichi found a bit weird. They sure do like from serious to relaxed and back to serious again.

"As I said before, if the Vongola Rings, Mare Rings and the Seven Pacifiers which compose the Tri-Ni-Sette fall into Byakuran's hand, terrible things will happen. Defeating Byakuran-san will save the world!"

It was hard for them to take, seeing that this battle would determine the fate of this world, which they hadn't expected it. Their priority were to get back to the past safely, until this whole mess spiral down on them. Reborn then told them not to worry about the world, much to Shoichi's chagrin. For now, they should focus on getting home.

All of them smiled, agreed on it. And then, each and one of them geared up. Ryuuichi had his gun hoisted around his shoulder, hid underneath his unbuttoned suit, and slung on his shoulder. As he decided to loosen his tie, he briefly fingered the ring that was around his neck, under the white dress shirt. His other rings were wore on his fingers as his box weapons were chained by the gun holster.

They were all as ready as they will ever be. Tsuna turned towards the others, calling them whilst those said people replied with him either a nod or yes, or something along the line. Ryuuichi's name was the last to be called, which surprised the teen. He hadn't expected the brunette to remember him to be honest. He smiled and nodded, determination blazed in his eyes but for a different reason. Tsuna returned a smile too, before turning serious.

"Let's go"

\----------------------------------------------------------

Upon the top of the steps of Namimori Shrine, they spotted a large float like thing, or something along the line. "This will be our base unit. I moved it out here this morning beforehand. Your bikes are stowed inside." Shoichi explained sheepishly. Ryuuichi walked up towards it and touched the fabric, inspecting the whole thing as the others talked. It was larger than he had expected.

"Hahi! So this is what you were building this whole time" "Amazing" Even the girls were impressed by it. "Something about it doesn't feel right..." Gokudera grunted, to Shoichi's surprise. "It had better not be a piece of junk when we look inside." Suddenly, Ryuuichi had a mischievous idea and called out for the bomber while smirking.

"Hey Yato~ Let's have a bet~" The said teen blinked at the playful tone. It wasn't always Ryuuichi would offer a bet or challenge anyone. Not to mention that he would always win for weird reasons. Gokudera hesitated, but Ryuuichi's eyebrows were moving up and down, challenging him before he finally caved in. Right after he agreed, he immediately regretted because Ryuuichi's smirk grew wider. "I'd say that inside would be awesome as heck. If it's like what you had thought it would be, you win. And if it isn't, you lose. And, the loser would have to obey one the winner's wish."

The others, sweated when they could somewhat see the mischievous aura from the dark brown hair teen's back.

"A-anyway, we stripped this unit of every function deemed unpractical" Shoichi interrupted, followed by Spanner. "Shoichi and I handpicked the newest machines to install inside."

Tsuna looked around, searching for something- or rather, someone. Gokudera asked, to which the brunette replied that he was looking for Hibari and Yamamoto, both whom haven't arrive yet.

"Hibari-san! Yamamoto!" Ryuuichi sweated at the attempt. He patted him on the shoulder and gave him a smile. "Don't worry. They will arrive." 'Though seriously, they sure like to be late and make grand entrances, especially Hibari...' He sighed at that. When Giannini and Reborn who had appeared as a hologram from Tsuna's headphone had said negative things, Basil immediately said the opposite.

"Besides, the Milliefiore aren't here yet either!" Suddenly, Spanner's laptop beeped loudly. There were something, Dying Will Flames to be exact, moving towards them in quite a high speed. And then, a large shadow was cast upon them. They all looked up to see dark clouds swirling above them.

A ray of light were shot out of it and a face of Byakuran's appeared. "Hey there, fellas" "Ahhh!! What is that?!"

"You seems to be doing well, Tsunayoshi-kun" The said brunette gaped in shock. Who would have expected that Byakuran's face would appear, well, perhaps Ryuuichi. But that wasn't the point at the moment. The others, too, were surprised. Though, Ryohei was kind of idiotic at the moment as he thought that Byakuran was a giant.

Actually, the Sasagawa siblings were weird because Kyoko said that he looked like cotton candy. Ryuuichi gave her a crept out stare behind her back. 'What in the world-' Just how does that bloody thing in the sky looks like cotton candy. 'You know what? I give up'

It wasn't an illusion, not to mention that there were metallic reading. "It's a giant apparatus" Spanner deducted. Shoichi, after hearing that, immediately calmed them down. "That's like a blimp in a shape of a face. It's certainly possible with Milliefiore's technology"

'Yeah but why a face?' Ryuuichi deadpanned in his thought. He pushed back the disgust that was building up in him for unknown reasons.

"Oh? I said to bring everyone with you. Some people are missing." Byakuran mused. "Oh well. You'll be the ones who suffer at crunch time."

"Byakuran-san, you're the one who broke the rules! That apparatus is too big for a base unit in Choice!" Shoichi shouted but the said man weren't fazed. "You haven't gotten over your habit of jumping to conclusions, Sho-chan. This is a new method of transportation that was just completed. You've also seen it before. This machine will take you to the stage where Choice will happen. The Flame Ring Teleportation System."

Ryuuichi must say, if that thing would shook up everything like what it did to the Melone Base when teleporting, he would certainly be more than pleased to barf on the Marshmallow Freak. Though,  _unfortunately_ , it wouldn't. Ryuuichi pouted a little at that. It would be quite a scene if it happen. Then again, he didn't actually want to puke his guts out right before the battle so no thank you.

"But as you know, this device isn't easy to activate. It also serves the role of testing to see if you're qualified to participate in today's Choice. In another words, five million Fiamma Voltage. We need that much flame pressure to transport you to the stage for Choice."

Well, Ryuuichi would simply just lit up his ring. After all, the others would provide more than enough flames. "A ridiculous amount of flame pressure is still necessary to use this teleportation system. I'd say that it's reasonable to expect you to provide the flames yourselves. You could say it's a ticket for participate in Choice"

'No, it isn't' Ryuuichi looked away when the face's eyes somewhat glanced towards him. The other's protested too. It was hard enough to blast two X Burner, and that they have to do it twenty times? That's too much, or so they've though. (Ryuuichi sweated. How the hell they come out with that metaphor was something even he wouldn't understand)

"Produce flame without any barrier and the device will pick them up." Byakuran ignored them. "Oh, I don't mean to scare you or anything, but if you fail, I'll be so disappointed that I'll have to take your town.. And do this to it" The eye that looked towards one of the mountains suddenly shot laser out of it and blasted the tip.

"The Northern Namimori Mountain.." Ryohei gasped. They couldn't believed it as anger rose inside Tsuna. How could that damn white hair man do something like that? ('Well, he was just digging himself a grave after all' Ryuuichi nonchalantly, yet wickedly thought. He was slightly pissed at that too to be honest)

"Oh, sorry about that." The face turned one round. "My face slipped" Ryuuichi snarled at that disgusting sight and snapped out a short "I hope your face slipped down to the seventh level of hell, Marshmallow Freak" If Byakuran was annoyed by that, he surely didn't show it as he ignore the teen.

A plate that showed a series of zero FV appeared. "Now, start pushing out flames quick. There's only a little time left before noon, the scheduled time. Time will be up when the light from my face disappears" The light started fading, but Tsuna hesitated. They were still lack of two important members after all.

As the light started fading, two teens jumped out from the trees, leaving a trail of purple and blue flame. "What are you people doing?" "Yo, sorry to keep you waiting"

In just the nick of time, Tsuna and the others lit up their rings and opened their Vongola Boxes while Ryuuichi simply lit up his Cloud ring. A blinding light shot up towards the face, blowing off the dark cloud and revealed the machine. Byakuran was surprised at that amount of Flames produced, before his face disappeared. The readings showed eleven million Fiamma Voltage. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrows at that. 'Shouldn't it be ten million?'

Tsuna and his Guardians stood side by side with their respective box weapon, or rather, partners. The dark brown hair teen smirked.

'Byakuran, you're dead~'

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Right after Tsuna had chosen a card as told by Byakuran, they were immediately teleported to a place with tall skyscrapers, yet there wasn't anyone at all. He had chosen the lightning card, which decided their element for the battlefield.

"Welcome to the Choice arena" A certain white hair man greeted them. As the dust dispersed, they could finally see their surrounding, which surprised the heck out of most of them, except Ryuuichi. The teen looked around while rubbing the back of his neck. 'My neck hurts...' The buildings were much taller than he had expected. Imagine if he were to stand on one of the buildings. He quickly shook that out of his head and suppressed a shiver. It wasn't as though he was fear of heights, but the thought of looking down from one had him shuddering.

And the feel of falling wasn't really a good thing. Not like he had experienced it in real life.

He turned towards the man and his guardians, all standing behind him. He indifferently stared at them, which had Kikyo raising an eyebrow. Kikyo had never seen someone like Ryuuichi who would simply just stare at them without fear, nor with any emotions at all. Other than amusement, that is.

Their eyes met for a moment and Ryuuichi's dark brown orbs glinted in amusement before he broke it off to look at Byakuran, who was talking to Tsuna and the others. The man was explaining things to them, to which Tsuna and the others doubted. They didn't know that they were at a place where there's no one other than them so fighting in this place was a bad idea. Though, Byakuran simply smiled and enlightened them.

'A bunch of rowdy shits....' Ryuuichi sighed inwardly, pointedly towards Bluebell and Zakuro. Well, it wasn't as if he could say anything about it. The others are as rowdy as cats on rebellious state. Especially a certain few of them. He tugged Hibari's sleeve lightly, bringing his attention to him. He gave him a pointed look and shook his head lightly, muttering a 'wait'.

"Thank you Ryuuichi-kun~" The said teen grumbled out that he didn't did it for him. Byakuran took out a gyroroulette with orange flame burning on top of it. "This is Choice. We have to prepare for the next Choice. I'll make it easier for everyone to see" He walked forward, nearer to them, bringing the gyroroulette too. Then, it suddenly shone and two monitor with symbols on it appeared, one with Milliefiore's crest while the other with Vongola's. "What's with the list of symbols?"

"These represent our individual elements?"

"Place the hand with your ring on the side with gears, Tsunayoshi-kun" Byakuran called out, holding out his right hand where his Sky Mare Ring adorned on his middle finger, and placed it onto the other side of the gyroroulette. The said brunette hesitated at first, but walked forward towards it and placed his on the other side. "Spin the gear right when I say Choice"

"Huh? H-hold-" "Choice" Byakuran ignored it and simply turned the gears, to which Tsuna didn't managed to do it. Slowly, numbers from the top to the bottom appeared. "And it's decided" The numbers appeared beside their respective symbols on the monitor. One on the sky, one on rain, one on storm and two on the box, which is the null with flame on it on Vongola's side. On Milliefiore's, one on sun, two on mist and one on cloud, with the same flame on the sun.

"The gyroroulette determined the number of combatants from each element on the battlefield." Byakuran explained after Shoichi's realization on it.Gokudera had then asked, more like demanded to know about the null element, which meant that they would have to choose two participants without rings. Suddenly, they all heard a gasp from the girls and turned towards them. Daisy was greeting them and had gave them a wilted flower. If Kikyo hadn't pulled him back, Ryuuichi was sure that he would have shot him. Well, it wasn't as if that dude would die anyway, so who cares.

Ryuuichi hadn't like Daisy at all, personally felt that the dude was creepy. And a bit psycho. He gripped his bow slightly tighter in annoyance. He really  _really_  wanted to  _stab_  him to death.

Of course, the others were shaken as well.

Byakuran simply ignored it and went on. "Well then. Let's announce the participating members then. Oh, this is the one time you can discuss before making your choice." He said in a sickening playful tone. Shoichi then stepped forward. "Byakuran-san, since I don't have a ring, I can be considered a 'null element', right?" Ryuuichi could briefly see some sparks as the two men locked eyes.

"Well, I'll make a special exception"

"In that case, Tsunayoshi-kun, our lineup is settled. The participating Vongola members will be as follow; Sky will be Tsunayoshi-kun, Storm will be Gokudera-kun, Rain will be Yamamoto-kun. Null element will be represented by Spanner and me" The bomber protested about Shoichi making decisions, but backed down when Reborn agreed with the man's decision. Ryohei, on the other hand, was too fired up and wanted to participate, which of course he couldn't.

When Shoichi reasoned with them, they finally fully stopped their protests, other than Hibari. The prefect actually was about to force his way into participating, which had stopped when two voices was heard. "Hold on, Kyouya" "Hibari, wait." Dino and Ryuuichi spoke in unison, which had the younger turned towards him as dark brown orbs met similar hue ones. Ryuuichi made an amused sound behind his throat.

"Man, you're so hopeless" Hibari was annoyed that he was stopped by not one, but two people whom he could actually stand. Not really for the older one but something along the line. The man had actually sneaked in during the warp and how he stayed unnoticed was beyond them. Well, Reborn probably knew it since the beginning.

"I'm your tutor. Of course I'd come. Use your head. If Tsuna and the others beat the Milliefiore (Ryuuichi could actually felt something from the said Famiglia at that, and sweated) you'll be free to fight with whomever you want." For once, the prefect actually sucked it up and willed himself to wait, but of course, not without irritation.

The others sweated on how Cavallone's Boss managed to persuade the teen, other than Ryuuichi. The latter simply sighed and shook his head at that. Well, at least things had settled and the lineup for Vongola was decided.

As for Milliefiore, Kikyo, Daisy, Torikabuto and one of his followers, Saru whom had appeared out of nowhere were the participants. As for the rule, Byakuran had decided on the Target Rule, which meant that if one of the the targeted one of each group was defeated, the whole group would lose. For Vongola, Shoichi was the target while Milliefiore's was Daisy. Sun Flames bursted out from both targets chests.

The amount that flown out was too much for Shoichi and had him collapsed onto his knees, feeling his energy draining slowly.

"That's the target marker. The target lights a fire on his chest so he can discerned from the other player. And it's proof that the target hasn't been defeated and is still alive." (Ryuuichi wondered if Daisy was  _actually_  alive to be honest. That creep practically looked like a zombie.)

Shoichi tried futilely to pry the damn target off his chest as it couldn't be taken off until the battle is over. And, the duration til the flames flared from their chest ends was the time limit for the battle. With that amount, the targets would no doubt collapse in no time.

Shoichi slowly gathered himself again, and agreed with it. With that, their surrounding turned dark as something were shot up to the sky, glowing. "As I've said before, the prizes of this grand game of Choice are.. All the Mare Rings, all the Vongola Rings, all the Arcobaleno pacifiers and.." Ryuuichi frowned. 'Didn't the prize end there?' To his, and the others, utter surprise, Byakuran raised his hand and pointed at him, their eyes widen.

"... Shiroki Ryuuichi"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The battle will start on the next chapter. 
> 
> Ryuuichi was feeling quite playful the moment he had offered a bet with Gokudera, that and the wish. Well, it'll be mentioned somewhere in the coming chapters. [Current me= I think I've forgotten about the bet????]
> 
> And yeah, the one more million of Fiamma Voltage was Ryuuichi.... Did I over did with that..?
> 
> Nope. Ryuuichi wasn't afraid of the real Funeral Wreaths. If anything, Reborn was much more scarier. That, and he practically didn't like Daisy at all. [I, too, personally]
> 
> This arc, the Choice Arc, would probably end in about one or two chapters more... Yeah.
> 
> Yep. Hibari is rebellious, in a way.
> 
> [I apologize for any spellings, grammars, etc.etc. mistakes]


	32. The Target

"WHAT?!" Most of them yelled in surprise, except Reborn, Hibari and Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi's mouth was slightly agaped at, eyes still wide. The last thing he would've expected was that Byakuran wants him. That never  _ever_  crossed his mind before. Not even once. Yet, not only him, but the others were taken by surprise when the Marshmallow Freak did.

Hibari, of course, didn't took it well. He growled and was very close to snarling at the man as he had his tonfas out, ready to attack anyone there as he stood in front of Ryuuichi protectively. By anyone, it meant  _any single one of them_. Even the Arcobaleno. No one would be taking the teen anyone on  _his_  watch.

Reborn shadowed his eyes under his fedora, hands gripped on his gun quite tightly. His eyes narrowed into a harsh glare towards the Milliefiore, more pointedly towards Byakuran. Briefly, he wondered when did he gotten so protective of the teen. He hadn't realized that until the moment Byakuran declared that he would take Ryuuichi away if they lose. That wasn't going to happen. And never will. Whoever does that would gain a ticket to hell from Reborn, and a meeting with Satan himself. Not to forget the bloody torture that would promised onto them.

Hell hath no fury from the strongest hitman after all.

The Cavallone boss, although having similar reactions as the others, he was no doubt angered. Ryuuichi, even though not the one from his era, was still considered one of his family, and his  _family_. His hands curled into a fist, trembling lightly as he walked closer to Ryuuichi. Gokudera blew up. No doubt he did, as he had done the same thing as Hibari did. Tsuna looked disbelieved.

Ryuuichi finally gotten his bearings again, slammed shut his mouth, eyes narrowed. He lowly growled out. "Why?"

Byakuran had already expected it simply chuckled, as though something amusing had happened. "'Why?' you asked? Well, isn't that obvious? It's because you interest me! More so than your older self!" 'And I've been wanting to get my hands on you for a longgg time now, Ryuuichi-kun~' The last part wasn't said, yet it was clearly heard by most of them.

The teen scowled hard, suppressing a shudder courtesy of the unspoken words and stomped down the urge to turn away from the violet eyes. Even though Byakuran wasn't as dangerous as Reborn, he was still  _dangerous_. The fact that he was wanted by the man had his warning alarm off, something that hadn't happen for a long time. He harden his eyes, his fists tight til his knuckles were white before he slowly loosen it, face turned indifferent, surprising all of them slightly.

"Bring it on then" His dark brown orbs glinted challengingly. Byakuran smirked. "Well, let's begin, then~ Time waits for no one after all~"

\--------------------------------------------------------

The battle finally started. The Cervello had became the judge, much to Tsuna and the others' dismay. Squalo had somewhat sneaked into their base unit and was found out by Kikyo. Those who weren't participating, on the other hand, were all moved to a spectator area, both Vongola and Milliefiore separated.

They had all settled on one spot and was all focused on the monitors as it begun. Ryuuichi had been frowning the whole time as he stood in between Dino (, Reborn, who was sitting on Dino's shoulder) and Hibari, arms crossed as his hands clenched and unclenched. He's irritated. Very. Though, since he knew the outcome, his nerves had cooled down a little. But it didn't help much. The blonde man sweated at the aura the teen was emitting, and slung an arm around Ryuuichi, pulling him closer. The teen was quite thankful as tension slowly eased away. He finally sighed, finding that there's no point in brooding it any longer. He huffed in resignation and focused on the monitor.

Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto were all already on the move, driving the two-cycle engine bikes. The silent bikes' silencer was one of Giannini's pride. Ryuuichi was impressed at it too. He had actually tried riding it once, and it was awesome. Briefly, he wondered if his inventions were in market, though not as though Ryuuichi wanted to buy it. He doubt that he had the money for it.

Suddenly, tiny tubes were launched from the Base. It was so small that they had to scrunch their eyes to see it. Those tubes had Sun flames, which were Shoichi's. They were decoy to buy them time from being found by one of the real Funeral Wreaths. Kikyo, Saru and Torikabuto split up, going to the decoys.

They certainly had planned a lot. Even the girls could see it from the monitor. Their formations and whatever they does were so systematic and to the point. Well, Shoichi  _was_  the one who had created Choice along with Byakuran.

Gokudera and Tsuna were told to be on standby, which the bomber skit his bike to a stop while the brunette stopped his normally. Tsuna then launched something, which was a dummy according to Shoichi. "Okay, evasive pattern F. Attack once the enemy is in sight. Yamamoto-kun should turn left after one block, then move three blocks to the intersection. Use intercept pattern B."

Spanner then informed Tsuna that an enemy was on his right as he guarded up at that, shoulder tense. It was Torikabuto. The real Funeral Wreath had spotted Tsuna in Hyper Dying Will Mode in the air, and immediately shot his mist flame from his ring towards it. But, it wasn't the real one. It was the dummy that the brunette had launched earlier.

Ryuuichi fleetingly wondered how did the... Creature not realize that it was a fake one. He should be able to see through it. Then again, the dummy might not be an illusion. A loud impact had cut him off his thoughts as he refocused on the monitor again. The girls were surprised to see him flying whilst Ryuuichi sweated a little. Did he just saw lasers shooting out of the brunette's eyes?

Torikabuto was thrown towards one of the building, and it wasn't even damaged. Cervello then arrived, explaining why. Those damn skyscrapers were all coated with Lightning's hard factor, which was practically so hard that crashing towards would damage it. 'Well, if crashing wouldn't damage it, burning the heck of it sure do. Oh, and stabbing through it too..'

All in all, Ryuuichi wasn't exactly amused by that. Something black suddenly burst out from Torikabuto and rushed forward towards Tsuna in strips form. They turned into sea snakes coated with lightning flames. As for Torikabuto, his freaking body had disappeared, surprising the awaken Lambo back to 'sleep'. Ryuuichi cringed at the disgusting sight, but didn't turn away. Though, it was illusions. So strong that it fooled the machines, according to Squalo anyway.

The snakes then straighten themselves, rushing directly towards Tsuna that had the teen moving away. The snakes pierced through the buildings as it followed him. Somehow, it managed to 'cut' the building into halves, which the upper half slid down. "Don't stand there stunned, Tsuna!" Reborn said, as though the said teen could hear him. Perhaps it was Tsuna's Hyper Intuition but he immediately snapped out of it right after Reborn finished his sentence.

He hurriedly moved away when snakes rained down on him. He was then caged by the snakes, forming grids around him. "Repe Serpente di Mare" The other gasped, frowning and worried. Ryuuichi simply smirked wordlessly and it didn't dropped until Tsuna opened his box weapon.

"Leone di Cielo ver. Vongola!" Ryuuichi internally squealed. "It's so cute" Although his sounded as if it was nothing, there were obvious hints of excitement in it. Might he add that as cute as it looked, the cub is deadly in a way as well. Then, he suddenly remembered his boxes but immediately threw it out the window for it gave him headache since he still hadn't figure out how to properly open it. (He obviously don't want to get another bite mark on his arm again.)

The cub roared, causing the grids to turn into breakable solid, which Tsuna escaped easily. He rushed forwards to the real Funeral Wreath, when the windows of the building behind the creature cracked and shattered, more sea snakes came out. "Let's do this, Natsu." The cub growled in agreement.

"Natsu. Cambio Forma Modo Difesa." ('When did Tsuna learnt Italian again..?') The cub changed. Just before they were able to see what it was, The sea snakes stabbed him from all direction, making a ball of spikes. Ryuuichi and Reborn was the only one who was grinning, or smirking, while the others were shocked.

"With the Vongola Boxes, the box animals themselves become weapons. They're Box Weapon that were specially modified by the Vongola." Dino eyes widen a little. Now that he thought about it, Tsuna did said something before he was stabbed...

"And those weapons are from the original Vongola Family. In the case of Tsuna's Leone di Cielo, it takes the form..." The ball of spikes started glowing in bright orange. ".. Of the Sky which shines onto all and envelopes all. Vongola Primo's cloak, Mantello di Vongola Primo" And Tsuna broke out of it, a black cloak with orange flames on the bottom adorned on his shoulder.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Right after Tsuna, it was Yamamoto's turn. His enemy was actually Saru, who turned out to be Genkishi. The dude hadn't died when Tsuna had burn him with X Burner. (The brunette did let him off) The teen took that fight with him as a revenge, which he had won easily despite the man being the 'second' strongest swordman. He, too, didn't killed him but Genkishi still died, by Kikyo's hand.

Byakuran hath abandon him.

Tsuna had anger slowly building up in him, as he rushed to where Milliefiore's target, Daisy was. How could Byakuran do that? How could he play with someone's trust and loyalty? Tsuna's eyes harden as he went faster, only to be trapped in an illusion. Torikabuto, who was supposed to be dead, was still alive and had cast an illusion on Tsuna, making him running in circles. The brunette gritted his teeth and tried to find his way out of it.

Yamamoto was on his way to where Daisy was too, and had head straight to him as told by Tsuna.

At the same time, Gokudera readied himself to fight Kikyo when he saw him. He only managed to get Uri out of his Vongola Box, and engaged hand combats with Kikyo, him on defense. Just as he was about to use his other box weapon, vines had sealed off his box weapons. Kikyo immediately went straight to where Shoichi and Spanner was.

The traps installed didn't help either, so they resorted to the last plan. They had the base turned into a vehicle and started running away, though it was a futile attempt.

And, Yamamoto managed to break the barrier, and had gotten Daisy. Kikyo, on the other hand, had managed to hit the base and it crashed. Shoichi gotten out of the base, head bleeding and ran. Tsuna was making his way to Shoichi was, but it was too late as Kikyo had hit him, rendering him unconscious.

The two of them were taken down at the same time. The others presumed that it would be a draw, but...

"I still can't die?" Daisy suddenly revived, his sun flame flared from the target marker.

Milliefiore had won.

\-------------------------------------------------------

As they were rushing down to where Shoichi, Tsuna and Gokudera was, the man had explained to him about everything. How he met Byakuran, how did Byakuran turned into what he was now, everything. The moment Ryuuichi was beside him, he had Gokudera moving away and immediately lit up his Sun ring, healing the man.

"Ryuuichi-" "No, shut up and let me do it, dumbass" He then gestured to the others, signalling him to continue, and he did. Shoichi explained as horror slowly grew in Tsuna and the others, especially the brunette, until Byakuran and the real Funeral Wreaths appeared.

"Yep, you lost. It's too bad, Sho-chan, considering how well you knew me. In the end, you couldn't defeat me in any world. Time to keep your promise. I'll be taking all the Vongola Rings, and Ryuuichi-kun" The said teen growled while the others tensed up when Kikyo wondered how to deal with them.

"Hold on! You also promised us something." Shoichi gritted out. "You should remember... When we played Choice for the last time in college and I won. But you had no means to pay, so you said the following: 'The next time we play Choice, I'll give you the handicap of naming any condition you want.' I'm going to hold you on your word! I request a Choice rematch!"

"Hmm, sorry. I don't remember that ever happening." His eyes widen. It was a lie, he knew it. Byakuran would never forgotten about a match. And it wasn't as if his memories are bad. Shoichi tried to persuade the Marshmallow Freak, trying to get him remember it but the man still denied that he had ever said those words.

"I'm telling you that it never happened. Can't agree to something that never happened. As the Milliefiore Boss, I formally refuse"

"I object" Their head whipped to the source of voice, and eyes widen. Ryuuichi locked eyes with her for a brief seconds before frowning. There's something akin to recognition, and knowing in those blue orbs. Why, he doesn't know. It was as if she knew something.

"Byakuran." She started, walking towards them while the pacifier looped around her neck glowed in bright orange. Reborn's own pacifier was glowing too. "As the boss of Millefiore's Black Spell, I hold half of the authority to decide." She was smiling, as if this wasn't a dire situation, but those who knew her well, understood why.

"Yuni.. Damn you.." Byakuran seethed. "Yuni is speaking at her own will.." Tsuna was surprised. He was so surprised that Yuni, a girl, was the other boss of Milliefiore, that he felt like his jaw had dropped onto the floor. Milliefiore, was originally from Gesso Family led by Byakuran and Gilgo Nero Family, led by Yuni.

"You've grown, Yuni" The said girl smiled, as she replied cheerfully to her 'Uncle' Reborn, which surprised most of them, Tsuna having the most. "What? You know her, Reborn?! I mean.. You're her uncle?! She's calling this infant her uncle?!" Reborn immediately shut him up by bending his finger the way it should be while Ryuuichi simply just sighed at the reaction. He had stopped after deeming that Shoichi was alright already, feeling fatigue.

"The granddaughter of an acquaintance of mine." When Gokudera finally pointed out the necklace around her neck, Tsuna finally realized that she's one of the Arcobaleno, specifically the Sky. Briefly, he wondered why she wasn't an infant like the rest of the Arcobaleno.

"Nice to meet you, members of Vongola" The way she smiled had Tsuna and his guardians, minus Chrome and Hibari, blushing a little. Even Lambo for some reason. Much to Haru's ire. Then, Byakuran's chuckle had brought their attention back to him. "You've gotten me. Man, this is a surprise. You look so much better. I see that you've recovered, Yuni-chan."

The girl's soul was supposed to be 'broken' by Byakuran. Though, unknown to the man, she had hid somewhere else the whole time, safe. "Byakuran. It appears that I can travel to another world, just like you." That had somewhat threw the man off, but he said nothing. "Back to the topic in hand. As the boss of Milliefiore's Black Spell, I approve of a rematch with the Vongola. Because the promise between Byakuran and Irie-san regarding the rematch was actually made"

Ryuuichi blinked as she spoke with much determination. He could actually feel it. It was hard to describe it, but it's there. He believed that the rest could feel it too. "I'm glad that you're healthy now," 'Lies' "But Yuni-chan, you don't have the right to interfere with my decision. I might consult with you when I'm not sure, but you're just number two. I hold the ultimate authority in making decision. Discussion's over."

"Indeed. I understand. Then I withdraw from the Milliefiore Family. Sawada Tsunayoshi-san. I have a favor to ask. Please protect me"

Tsuna was sweating bullets as he blabbered. "P-protect you? But you're the boss of Black Spell!" Yuni then took out clear pacifiers. "Not only me, but the pacifier of my comrades too"

Ryuuichi sweated at that as he watched both Yuni and Byakuran spoke. The Marshmallow freak seriously hadn't expected it, had he? Fortunately. If he knows about everything, then shits would happen. Literally. Knowledge, is after all the key to every thing. Strength may be important to, but it would always be the second one. Though, knowing too much would probably make someone go mental.

His eyes widen, slightly impressed when the pacifiers glowed. "Soulless pacifiers will never reveal the meaning of their existence" To be honest, Ryuuichi didn't really understood that, but he felt attached to it for some reason. He didn't know what, but the attachment to that measly one sentence was there. It was strong for a few seconds before it dulled into nothing, which was why he couldn't understand it.

"I see. So that's how it is. You're amazing, Yuni-chan. I definitely need you. Come, let's make up, Yuni-chan" He scowled when the man walked towards the said girl, but stopped when she told him to stay away, the light slowly disperse. Byakuran was acting more crazy than he actually was.

"We can no longer leave our souls with you!" The damn smile on Byakuran's face was so damn evil-and weird- that Ryuuichi felt like stabbing at it. Well, not literally. "What kind of nonsense are you saying? If you're going to take that and run, I'll chase you to the end of the Earth and take it back. Let's return now. Come back to me" Ryuuichi stood up onto his feet, hands clutching on his bow as he gripped it tightly as Byakuran moved nearer to Yuni. 'We'll be running..'

A sudden gun shot had grazed Byakuran's hand that was reaching out to her. Yuni immediately ran towards where Tsuna and Reborn was. "Don't push your luck, Byakuran. I don't give a damn who you are. If you lay a finger on the Arcobaleno Boss, I won't stay quiet" For some reason, Ryuuichi felt that Reborn meant to say 'I would personally pull you down to hell'.

"Playing the knight in shining armor, strongest of infants, Arcobaleno Reborn?"

"Byakuran-sama. Rest assured. We will soon bring Yuni-sama to you." Kikyo, Torikabuto and Zakuro flew up, flames thrusting them upwards. Kikyo had threw sharp plant shoots coated with Cloud flames at a high speed, which were all destroyed by explosives, courtesy from Squalo. "Voiiii! You get to deal with me! I've been itching to let loose!" Hibari was beside him, poking him with the end of his tonfa saying that he was on his way.

Ryuuichi simply sighed, but shot a few arrows towards them, purposely missing them. He gave them the stare, sending a silent message of 'Sorry but you'll die no matter what'. "Ryuuichi?! Not you too!" If this was anything else, he would have laughed at the brunette's reaction. Seriously, how did he overreact so many times and would still be overreacting was a mystery.

"Now, let's calm down, Kikyo-chan. Yuni-chan's been more or less asleep for a long time. She must be upset after awakening from her long slumber" The real Funeral Wreath did as told, as Byakuran went back to persuading Yuni to go back to him. As if she would. "Then how about this, Yuni-chan? I worked very hard to earn the precious Tri-Ni-Sette I was suppose to receive after winning Choice. But if you return to Milliefiore, I'm willing to return the Vongola Rings the Vongola Family"

Ryuuichi frowned. So he would still be taken away? Not a bloody chance. As he had known, Yuni rejected and along the line of her short speech, Choice is considered invalid, to everyone's surprise. And for the sake of the world, she had chose to abandon her Family, the Black Spell. Ryuuichi knew that it pained her to do so, as she had no choice. She rather sacrifice herself, but in this dire situation, it wasn't possible. Tsuna, after consideration, which wasn't that long, had taken Yuni into their protection.

The three real Funeral Wreath, who were all on standby was about to attack them when Squalo's explosion exploded again, creating a smoke screen as he rode on his box weapon, which was a shark coated with Rain Flames, rushed towards them. Ryuuichi helped carry Shoichi, as they ran, leaving Squalo, Gokudera and Hibari to buy them some time.Briefly, he felt that he was forgotten.

But, the narrowed stare and those silent words that he heard showed otherwise. "Yuni-chan, Ryuuichi-kun, I won't let you go." 'You both are mine'

The teen suppressed a shudder and fasten his pace. For now, let's just run away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have much to say on this Chapter, somehow.
> 
> About Yuni, well, she did knew about a few things about Ryuuichi, so yeah.
> 
> The next chapter would be the last chapter for the Choice Arc... And probably the prologue for the next Arc, the Inheritance Succession Arc. Yeah, that arc would be more interesting because I wouldn't be elaborating much on what happen on Tsuna and the other's Trial. It would be more focused on Ryuuichi. Fortunately *sigh* 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	33. Run

"All non-combatants inside!" Spanner ordered out with panicked haste as he pushed Shoichi who was on the stretcher into the half destroyed base unit. Fuuta ushered the girls along with Yuni and children in first before getting in himself while Ryuuichi stayed one, on guard as they waited for the rest. By the corner, there were explosions before a Squalo, a Hibari and a Gokudera, both were on the long haired man's box weapon appeared.

"You did it, Gokudera-kun!" The said bomber sheepishly smiled. "It wasn't me! The needles from Hibari's hedgehogs are multiplying to slow them down" It was impressing, how the prefect managed to hold back three of the real Funeral Wreaths. They were amazed by that, and relieved at the same time but when Chrome pointed out that Byakuran was moving towards them at fast speed, it died down to dread again.

Ryuuichi blinked, eyes wide as he gripped his bow tighter, going to shot him if anything goes the way he doesn't know. He didn't realized that Byakuran was  _this_  creepy until that Marshmallow freak decided to take him as a price as well. Dino stepped forward, whip readied to counter Byakuran as he told them to get in first, but of course, they didn't listen. Suddenly, Mist flame seeped out from Chrome's trident. Ryuuichi felt a shudder going up his spine but he stomped it down. Tsuna felt it too.

"No one will be able to stop me" "I don't know about that" TYL Mukuro materialized in front of Chrome, trident in his hand. "Not even me?" His hair was much longer than before, tied back into a low pony tail, similar to Ryuuichi's though the younger's was shorter, and higher.

Byakuran was surprised for the nth time when Mukuro appeared. The others, too, were taken aback as the illusionist stood in front of all of them. "Mukuro-sama..." Chrome had a blush on her cheek and her eyes shone, relieved that the man is alive and all. Byakuran then lit up his ring in Orange flame as he impacted with Mukuro's trident, both smirking creepily. The kanji in Mukuro's red eye changed to one and the ground beneath Byakuran cracked, and a gush of lava with lotus and vines shot out from it.

It was so real that had most of them mesmerized by it. "It's been a long time, Sawada Tsunayoshi, Shiroki Ryuuichi" The latter teen raised an eyebrow. How kind of the man to remember him. Well, at least he isn't like Byakuran. And more handsome than him. 'Okay whatttt..........'

"But aren't you injured?" Tsuna asked worriedly despite the previous shock. Byakuran, inside Mukuro's illusion spoke too. "Tsunayoshi-kun's right, Mukuro-kun." Of course the white Marshmallow Freak wouldn't fall for it. "I thought I'd destroyed your mind when you were possessing my subordinate. Or at least, caused enough damage to prevent you from creating such illusion"

Mukuro simply chuckled at that. "I definitely thought it was over when I fell prey to your scheme and found myself trapped in a sealed space. It would've been, had I been alone" Never had he thought that there would be a day he would admit he almost get killed, being the prideful him, that is. It was a fortunate thing that he wasn't working alone. Really.

And, he was all but annoyed when Byakuran said that  _his_  apprentice was poorly raised. "Either way, you dealt me considerable damage. Enough to prevent me from doing anything until a moment ago" His illusions went up a notch, flaring as vines started growing more and more around Byakuran.

The man simply chuckled, much to everyone's chagrin. "That won't do, Mukuro-kun. That's not enough to beat me" The said man's smirk dropped. "Your illusions may be extremely real, but you're still a fake. If you want to beat me, you'll need to escape Vindice Penitentiary and fight me in person" It finally struck Tsuna that Mukuro was still in Vindice's prison. He wondered what had his older self had down all this years. Why the heck hadn't he get Mukuro out of those cold blooded creatures' prison, their clutches? Mukuro was and is still his Half Mist Guardian, and hell, even his friend, so what the heck..

"No need to worry. I shall come to personally defeat you in the near future. We have already made out move. I'll leave it at that. And I merely need to delay you to win here"

"Now, take the Sky Arcobaleno to Namimori, Sawada Tsunayoshi" The said brunette hesitated. He didn't want to leave the man alone here. It doesn't, and probably never will sit well with him if he were to leave a friend behind. Chrome probably had the same feelings as he had at the moment. "Mukuro! Will we see you again?" Mukuro turned towards them, looking at them sideways.

"Of course. I can't have someone other than myself taking over this world. Listen carefully, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Tsuna gulped. "You absolutely must not let the Sky Arcobaleno, Yuni, fall into Byakuran's hands" A hand suddenly pierced through Mukuro's illusion frame, ordering him to be quiet before the flames slowly disappeared along with the vines. Mukuro was unfazed by that, as he ushered them to hurry.

Ryuuichi frowned a little when their eyes crossed, worried for Mukuro. But nevertheless, he heaved a shaky breathe before lighting up his ring, the same time Tsuna and the others did. A bright light surrounded them and they were suddenly transported back to Namimori Shrine. Ryuuichi had landed on his knees, feeling dizzy and his head ached. He clutched his head and winced a little, slowly willing the pain to ebb away. Flame deprivations never felt good. (He learnt that the hard way)

"Ryuuichi, are you alright?" A hand was held out in front of him but it wasn't until his hearing and sight cleared back up did he noticed it. He looked up to see Dino's concerned face. He gave him a tired smile and nodded, grabbing the hand that heaved him up to his feet. "Thanks.." He said as he steadied himself. He looked towards the base unit, which were smoking a little but still intact.

Things had happened the way he had expected. Well, except for Byakuran's part. No thanks to that.

He watched the Teleportation System device got hit by Gokudera's shot before it disappeared, not destroyed at all. At least it would buy them time. Apparently, they had went to an uninhabited island for Choice, as Yuni had explained. Although that place was far away, they only managed to damage the device a little, and it would take them a while to fix it so Reborn had deducted it to a few hours before they were back into the chasing.

Ryuuichi huffed in temporary relief. 'Well, time to go back, again'

\-------------------------------------------------------------

During the few hours they had, Tsuna and his Guardians had rested in the lounge room while Reborn went to Lal Mirch's room and explained everything, along with Yuni. Ryuuichi, too, had rested. By sprawling on the couch of the lounge room, covering his eyes as he tried to relax instead of sleeping.

However, after a while, he pushed himself up again and walked back to his room, changing into something more comfortable sluggishly. He then was called to a meeting and not long after that, they went Shoichi's lab to go back to the past along with Yuni. Hibari was there too. Ryuuichi had to control the urge to simply jump on the prefect because he was yearning for skin contact, not that he actually need it frequently but he was tired.

When they were transported back to the past, their rightful era, and had appeared at Namimori Shrine. The Shrine from their era. Tsuna were wondering why they were transported here when Reborn, out of nowhere jumped landed on top of his head. And suddenly, one by one the Arcobaleno appeared.

Ryuuichi pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling somewhat confused by the time and all and shits. Reborn had said that the Arcobaleno trial had just ended  _yesterday_ , when they were in the future for almost two weeks plus. 'Wait... If the day from Reborn... Three.. Arcobaleno.. Seven... Today.... -Oh. Yuuichi's coming home soon' Damn the stupid timeline and all.

"I came here half a day before you to assemble everyone. To get them to help you as your tutor"

"What are we going to do?" What in the world did Reborn planned that need all the Arcobaleno as their tutors? Tsuna, for some reason, felt that it wouldn't be  _that_ terrible, unlike the previous ones he had been through. Don't, remind him of it. Please.

"No idea. but we're about to perform a dangerous miracle that's never been tried before in all of Vongola history. An all-or-nothing bet. If we fails, we're done" Ryuuichi sweated at that. He, no matter how amused he was towards the others' hidden, dreaded faces, he couldn't understand why Reborn like to exaggerate on things. Then again, this  _is_ a serious situation.

"Listen up. The outcome is on you guys. Go for it and don't get scared. Bring out your ring, Tsuna" The said brunette did as told and held out the hand that has the ring on towards the Arcobaleno. Yuni on the side, silently intertwined her hands, summoning the will of the ring to aid them. One by one, the Arcobaleno's pacifiers glowed before Tsuna's own ring glowed.

It suddenly shot out a ray of light, orange flame flared before a man that looked exactly like Tsuna minus the hair color appeared. Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei gasped in surprised. Tsuna recognized the man.

"Looks like it worked. I can't believe that I'm getting to see the real thing. Allow me to introduce the person before you. Vongola Primo!" Nope. Ryuuichi did not just squealed internally. Nope he didn't.

He blinked, calming down his inner thoughts. Although this was the second time he see him, he still couldn't exactly believe that one day he would actually see the man in flesh- or not... Anyway, it was simply amazing. "So we meet again, Vongola Decimo." Right. He might as well just hit himself in the face before he did something unthinkable.

"You were the one who summoned me?"

"There's a legend that the Vongola Rings hold the living will of the First Generation Family. We used the power of the Arcobaleno pacifiers to form a contract that allowed you to take a corporeal form" It sounded impossible, yet it happened.

"I've never answered to the Arcobaleno's power and never will again. My acceptance of the Arcobaleno boss, the Sky Arcobaleno's conditions had led to this single exception" 'But to the successor of  _him,_ I will' Ryuuichi frowned. He had heard the last part clearly, but none of the others did, including Reborn. He wondered why was he the only who could hear it, and who the hell is the person he had 'mentioned'.

"It appears that you've run into a wall, Vongola Decimo" Tsuna frowned. How did Vongola Primo knew that they were in a pinch? "He can sense the danger to Vongola. It must be a response to your feelings"

"You're Decimo's Guardians?" Giotto looked around to the others, surveying them. "You have yet to inherit the true power of Vongola" Their eyes widen. They had thought that they had already gain it, seeing that they had improved a lot since the last time. It was hard to believe when Giotto simply just look at them and said otherwise.

And what true power?

"if the first generation Vongola Family accepts you as the true boss and true guardian, you will be able to inherit the power of the Vongola." When Gokudera asked what do they have to do to gain the approvals, Giotto replied with questions. "Are you able to embody the duty of a Guardian? Do you have the resolve? Everything rests on that" Right after he said that, he had turned back into flames and disappeared.

Tonight, the first generation of Vongola Family would appear one by one to each Guardians. If there's anything more, Ryuuichi doesn't know.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

"Shiroki Ryuuichi"  **Jump**.

"AHH!!!" Ryuuichi literally hopped to the side a few steps and banged into the door when a voice called out to him from behind. His hand clutched tightly onto his water bottle as he tried to calm his heart down, eyes wide. He was going downstairs to refill it when orange flames had appeared upon him before Giotto was there. Behind him six other flames flared and the rest of the first generation appeared. Yes, even Daemon Spade.

He sighed in relief when he realized that it was Giotto and his guardians. Seriously, that wasn't good for the heart. And if anything, they looked more than amused at his reaction. He pushed the fact that they were enjoying scaring him for no particular reason behind. Or did they had a reason?

"Y-yes...?"

"' _No matter how far the stars are, they will always be connected_ '" His eyes widen even more at the familiar, English words. Those were written by him,  _her_. It was one of his favorite. He had remembered it til now, and no one should even knew about it since he had never said it out. Not even Yuuichi knew about it.

Let alone Giotto? Could it be that he knew everything about him? Even his memories of his past life?

"H-how...."

Giotto simply said nothing and turned toward Alaude, who was giving him an intense stare which had him sweating bullets internally. The beige haired man nodded and Giotto looked at him directly in the eyes. Ryuuichi met his orange eyes unflinchingly. There was something akin to recognition and... familiarity? Ryuuichi doesn't know.

Oh, and did he mentioned that Knuckle was staring at him too?

But that was not important at the moment. He was about to say something else when Giotto raised his hands up and held out in front of him. Suddenly, his whole body started glowing in bright orange and he, for some reason, had floated up a little. The ring that was around his neck had floated out from his shirt, glowing too.

"The seal shall be removed once you pass our tests. And the power of the ring shall be released" Once the ring was mentioned, it grew brighter to the point that it blinded Ryuuichi's sight. Ryuuichi winced at the brightness before it slowly dimmed to nothing else. The first generation, too, were gone.

He gritted his teeth. 'Just when I was about to get the answers.....' He couldn't believe that just as he was about to get them, they disappeared, not giving him the chance to say anything. It frustrated him to no end. He took deep breathes to calm himself down again, clenching and unclenching his hands.

He then somewhat remembered the ring, and took a look at it only to be surprised for the nth time. The previous gap in the middle were no longer empty. There were a hexagon shape in the middle, by each edge there were rectangles that connected it to the rainbow lining. It was colorless, empty yet there was something there. He knew that it wasn't colorless. How he knew it was beyond him.

Giotto's words played in his mind like a broken record.

'I guess I would have to pass them all to know it....'

For the answers, he would do anything.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Even though they had disappeared from Ryuuichi's sight, Alaude and Knuckle had lingered behind unknown to the teen. Alaude watched the teen in silence, not minding the other's presence. No matter how he see him, Ryuuichi really  _really_ resembles  _him_. The bittersweet memories replayed in his mind as it always would.

Though, Ryuuichi isn't  _him_. No matter how much they resembles each other, no matter how much they're the same, Ryuuichi will never be  _him_. 

It hurt so much even after all these years.

A hand was suddenly placed on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. He gave Knuckle a side way glance before shrugging the hand off. "Let's go"

And they disappeared fully.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The First Gen. will appear according to Tsuna and the other's tests. So the first to appear would be Asari Ugetsu and so on.
> 
> Speaking of that, as a reminder, Yuuichi has gone to training camp in Kyoto for at least two weeks and adding up the days til they came back from the future for the second time, Yuuichi had gone for 12 days. Yeah
> 
> Giotto can talk to Ryuuichi telepathically.... Somehow [That was only a one time thing tho.]
> 
> I don't exactly know how to explain the ring... So yeah. AH but the ring is in round shape. Only a piece in the middle is hexagon in shape.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	34. Asari and Lampo

The first test Tsuna and the others had gone through was with Asari Ugetsu. Yamamoto's test. He took two days to pass it. At first, he thought that he would have to fight Asari, to his surprise, that wasn't actually the man's intention. He was simply just going to show Yamamoto his weapons of choice but the teen misunderstood it. Why he wanted to show him his weapons was a mystery.

Ryuuichi was there too. He had witness the fight under the roof of the Shrine. He had nothing to say for the first one, but simply that Yamamoto was too impatient to get everything done and going. (He did slapped him on the back, hard, right after Yamamoto passed the test) The second one was the same, only, Yamamoto was more calm. Luckily he didn't finished Asari with the last blow or else he would have failed fully. Yamamoto was lucky to have Asari as the one to test him after all.

He sighed when Asari disappeared. No doubt that Asari would test him right afterwards. For some reasons, he was getting a bit twitchy. Perhaps he was nervous. Ryuuichi congratulated Yamamoto and was somewhat pulled into the circle where they had somewhat embarrassingly shouted "Vongola, Fight!" Though, he just remained silent with deja vu running through his being.

He peeked to the roof of the Shrine and saw Asari, who was sitting on it, talking to G. They were holding onto their golden pocket watches when suddenly, their eyes met.

Asari blinked when he noticed that Ryuuichi was watching him and G. He wasn't wrong when Gokudera Hayato and Yamamoto Takeshi really resembles him and G, but Ryuuichi too. The teen resembles  _him_. Silent and aloof yet he was practically the opposite of it too.  _He_  was the same too. No doubt, the rest of the first generations had noticed it too. Even more so for Alaude.

He gave him a small smile, as if sending a message that he would be tested later to the teen. Ryuuichi, as though getting the message, blinked slowly in acceptance and curtly nodded before turning back to Tsuna and the others, laughing slightly at them.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

"Holy shit-" Ryuuichi winced just when he accidentally bit his tongue in midst chewing and his two hands quickly raised to cover it. He gave Asari a glare but there wasn't any heat in it. Asari simply chuckled, apologizing though he was quite amused. It's really fun to surprise the usually calm teen.

Ryuuichi rolled his eyes playfully. Although it annoys him to no end, he didn't really mind it. "Good morning" He greeted, giving him a wry smile before turning his attention back to his phone as he munched on his bread, typing on it with one hand. He was messaging Yuuichi, who apparently would be back later in the evening because of a stupid jam and all. Right after pressing send, he locked his phone and turned to Asari.

"Good morning. How's your night?" Minus the usual weird dreams? Nothing in particular. "It's ok, I guess?" He ended it with a question. He never really care much about what happen at night, so it would usually pass off in his mind and forgotten. And if anything bad happened, it would pretty much disappeared somewhere in his mind.

Asari twinkled in amusement, much to Ryuuichi's chagrin. Ryuuichi then remembered about the test, wondering what would his test be. "So...." He didn't continue as the man would had understood what he wanted to say.

"Don't worry about it" As if it would be an easy task to. It had actually made him more anxious. He nodded, despite not getting it. He peered to his watch and got up, eyes on him as he moved to check everything. "I'm going to school now. Don't wanna be late or anything..." He paused, looking at Asari.

The man somehow got the message again, and waved his hand, smiling. "Have a nice day!" Ryuuichi made a small doubtful sound behind his throat but nodded again. He took his bag pack up and slung it onto his shoulders, grabbing his wallet, keys and phone along. "I'm going now...." He said in a small voice, very much aware that Asari was still in his house. Though, he had no doubt that Asari would follow him to school.

And he did.

For some reasons that he doesn't want to know, he could feel the man's presence. He couldn't see him, but he could feel him. It made him edgy the whole time that he looked pretty uncomfortable to the point that the his teachers gave him raised eyebrows. Fortunately, they didn't asked anything. If they did, Ryuuichi doesn't know what to answer. (Well, perhaps he could say that there's a ghost staring at him for hilarity. Then again, might as well not)

During lunch break, he huffed and had somewhat fast-walked to the reception room, meeting up with Hibari. Yep. He was going to annoy the prefect, once again. No doubt about it. But just as he slid open the door, something was thrown out of it. Something had pulled him back just in time before he was hit by that, thing. Or rather, someone. He blinked in surprise. Not really towards the body, but more towards the force that had pulled him back.

Perhaps it's Asari.

He shrugged that off, mentally noted to remember thanking the man. He carefully stepped into the room, not wanting to step on the body. (He should probably not call it a body since it wasn't dead yet) He was greeted by the usual face of Hibari, and him wielding his tonfas. He gave him a deadpanned stare.

The prefect grunted inaudibly, saying that the person had annoyed him and had actually broke the rule. To think that there were still people who dares to break the rules Hibari had created and enforced was actually unbelievable. Well, technically not but still. Ryuuichi must say, those people are idiots.

He sighed, shaking his head in resignation and flopped down onto the sofa. Hibari gave him a look but said nothing, but then glared at one spot where there wasn't anyone at all. He could feel another presence in the room, but he saw no one other than Ryuuichi. The teen followed his glare and realized that he was actually glaring at the invisible Asari.

He then pulled out his ready-made bento from those grocery shops and began to eat. It wasn't as delicious as Yuuichi's or his parents', but it was still edible. As he was about to bite into the sausage, Hibari swept down and chomped on it, face inches away from his face.

His eyes widen as his head shot so back that his head hit the back rest of the sofa, trying to sink into it to create distance between him and Hibari. "Hibari!!" The said prefect simply closed mouth chewed on the meat, staring right into Ryuuichi's eyes smugly. The younger teen flushed a little but quickly covered up with a pout. He did actually really want to eat the sausage so it wasn't considered acting.

Hibari swallowed, rolling his eyes at that before sitting down beside him gracefully. He then promptly lied his head down onto Ryuuichi's lap (His bento's on his hand), legs propped up onto the arm rest and had fallen into slumber in matters of seconds. Ryuuichi gasped and resisted the urge to push the prefect's head right off his leg. His hand trembled as he hold his food away from Hibari's head but then it stopped when he saw the dark circles under the prefect's eyes.

The raven head must have slept late, again. For what? His work, of course. Hibari seriously is a workaholic.

Ryuuichi sighed, resigning. He resumed to finish his half empty bento silently, no longer minding that there was someone's head on his lap. He hoped that Hibari would take care of his health more.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Asari was actually having fun following Ryuuichi silently for some reason. Even though his day was practically normal and if not, boring, but he found it quite hilarious. Right after Ryuuichi had stepped into the school ground, he had actually fled from Alaude's to-be-successor who was wielding his weapon, trying to get a spar out of the younger teen. After that, he was asked by a teacher to help him, which the said teacher had literally rambled on informations that shouldn't be known by students while Ryuuichi carried a stack of books.

(Ryuuichi had to endure it the whole time and had never been so relieved when he had finished his task, moving onto his class)

This was the first time Asari had really observe Ryuuichi's daily life, and he found it quite fasinating. In the beginning, the teen was very indifferent to many things, but when he had looked closer, he could see the little twitches whenever something happened. For example, his smile had twitched more than once when a classmate of his had somewhat annoyed him. Or when the smile stretched into an evil smirk when that classmate literally slammed into the door. Don't ask why.

All in all, Ryuuichi was interesting.

Though, he wasn't the only one observing, looking out for the teen. And he wasn't the one who had pulled Ryuuichi just in time before he was hit by the corpse- Sorry. Body. (That didn't exactly made it any better but whatever)

He had a sense of deja vu hitting him when he saw the peaceful scene of Hibari and Ryuuichi. (And it wasn't exactly surprising when Hibari could actually sense him) The latter was comforting the stressed-out prefect without any word. (The pressure of the work from the Disciplinary Committee and the eagerness to fight the daylight out of the Milliefiore was getting onto him. Not that he would admit anything) To Hibari, Ryuuichi's presence would probably be the tranquility and comfort he would ever need.

And that, was what Asari wanted to see. In a sense, it would seemed like he, they, were trying to recreate  _him_ , but he wasn't. No matter what,  _he_  couldn't be remade, or craved out again. It was like how Asari himself couldn't be made out again.

What Asari wanted, was the calm demeanor to counter all dismays and the urge to help, hope and wish for someone else even if the action was nothing big. Ryuuichi really has all that in him. Even without Asari telling him what he would be tested, or even before the trial for Ryuuichi begins, the teen had already passed the test. Without a doubt.

He smiled at that. (Though, he should really make an effort to fully camouflage his presence when Ryuuichi shuddered a little for the nth time that day)

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sighed as he leaned against the tree, still waiting for Yuuichi. It was already 5 in the evening and his brother hadn't reach yet. There wasn't anything interesting going on today, unfortunately. Everything was as if it had gone slower for some reasons. He tilted his head to the school building's direction, watching as a few more students, and teachers walking out of the school. His eyes drifted to the roof top and he had almost dropped to the ground if he had not had his feet planted onto the ground.

By the fencing, there sat Asari, who was smiling and waving at him. He frowned in confusion, wondering why the man was up there. If he hadn't known that who was Asari, he would certainly scream aloud at the sight of a ghost. The man then gestured him to go to where he was.

He raised an eyebrow at that, but complied nonetheless. He grabbed his bag pack that was on the ground and made his way back into the building, and up the stairs. Right after he opened the door, he was greeted with an surprisingly not smiling Asari Ugetsu, which was making him a little nervous because the man was rarely seen serious. Or perhaps not. "Yes?"

"Shiroki Ryuuichi" He stiffen a little at the serious tone. Asari chuckled at that, all the tensed atmosphere disappeared as if it was never there. "Calm down. It's nothing bad"

"Put on your ring" Ryuuichi tilted his head and made a questioning sound as he took out his ring and wore it, showing it to Asari. Asari smiled a little before it dropped. He raised his hand up and Ryuuichi's body glowed in bright blue, his ring shone. " _I, Asari Ugetsu, accept Shiroki Ryuuichi_ " And there was something in him that had clicked.

He gasped at a foreign sensation that had washed through his being, but it had went away fairly quick. But still, there was a click.  _There. Was. A. Click_. He didn't know what it was but it was there. It was like something had lifted a little. His ring, on the other hand, was softly blinking in blue. One of the colorless rectangles had blue in it. "W-what....?"

"You've passed my test" He frowned at that. "But I had done nothing...."

"My test is for you to show me the tranquility that you have, and the level-headness on countering all situations. During the time I had observed you, you had proved that they existed in you." Asari had chuckled again. "Well, even if I hadn't, you would've already passed" Before Ryuuichi was able to ask anything more, the man had already disappear.

"May we cross path again, Shiroki Ryuuichi"

\--------------------------------------------------------------

"Woah" Ryuuichi whistled in amazement upon the sight of the amusement park as he, Tsuna, Yuni, Reborn and the children waited for the others. It would be Lambo's turn to get his succession test from the first generation's Lightning Guardian, Lampo. The man had literally appeared in front of the brunette, telling him to have Lambo search of him, which they had somehow ended up at the amusement park.

Reborn, had one way or another dragged Ryuuichi out. He had wanted to drag the teen's younger brother out too, but Ryuuichi had shot that idea to hell and said that his brother needed rests. Yuuichi did arrived back at home around 8pm for shit's sake. Ryuuichi was so surprised when he finally saw his brother after so long. His brother were tanned. It wasn't as if his brother wasn't tan before, but man. He looked  _darker_. And red. Probably sunburn. Oh, and there was a few bruises on his forehead, arms and abdomen.

He absently wondered what kind of hell training did his brother had. At first, he had wanted to simply just jump onto him, but at that sight, well. All went out the window and got burnt.

Did he mentioned that his brother was cranky too? (Please don't remind him of the punch he had received on the stomach for trying to wake his brother up for breakfast. No, he didn't cook them. He bought them. He didn't want to die after all.)

He shook his head and sighed at, making Yuni curious about what he was sighing about. He simply gave her a small smile and mouthed that it was nothing. She was trying to say something else but Gokudera and Yamamoto, along with their tutors, Fon and Colonello, had arrived.

Well, he might as well have fun today.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Not exactly. First, they had went to the spinning Tea Cup ride. At first, Yuni hadn't wanted to went in, but Ryuuichi had somehow pulled her into it, sitting with her in one of those colorful.. Machines, saying that she should loosen up sometimes. (Really, it was actually an excuse to make her smile. He had wanted her to smile, rather than frowning lightly)

And then what happened? Verde happened. The cup Tsuna and Lambo were sitting in had spun too hard and wouldn't stop no matter what, creating a small tornado. And then, after a while, it had finally stopped. Ryuuichi sweated at that as he watched them spun around non-stop. Verde's ways sure are weird. And gut churning. Well, at least they had gotten the stamp.

Next was the go-karts. Yeah, Ryuuichi didn't rode on this one. He hadn't wanted to be electrocuted after all. He had experienced it, caused by electric statics, and it was very painful despite being very small. As expected, Lambo's had went haywire, spinning around and shooting electricity.

All in all, it was chaos. Freaking Chaos. Still, they did passed it and got the stamp. Though, Ryuuichi must admit, it was hilarious as he had laughed out loud for a few times during the chaos.

Before they had moved onto the last one, they had decided to take a break. Ryuuichi went to the washroom, separating from the rest. When he was about to go back to where the rest were, he saw a few guys harassing two girls. He narrowed his eyes and walked to where they were.

"I believed that you are disturbing them, so could you please kindly back off?" One of the guys snarled at him, telling him to back off rather than Ryuuichi telling them. Note that it was said in the rudest word. The other two of the delinquents had agreed to, all glaring daggers at him and looking down at him. He felt something snapped in him as a invisible vein popped in annoyance. 

No one was to ever look down on him. Whoever does that shall gain a ticket to hell without charge.

He remained calm, but his dark aura begun to emit. "It seems like you three obviously can't understand me." He glared daggers at them, his right hand reaching for his retractable bo stick by his pocket. "Leave. Them. Alone"

But of course, it wasn't paid any heed as those delinquent laughed. "Who do you think you are to order us around?" Another sneered and had reached out to grab him by the collar of his shirt, but he had slapped the hand off before he could even touch him. That dude definitely didn't took it well as they begun to attack him.

He pulled out his bo stick and had it on it's full length. He hit one of them on the chest, stabbed another one on the stomach and slash-hit the last. The force he had used was harder than normal, making them fell to their knees and back in matters of seconds. He stepped on the one that could be the leader, who was on his back, bo stick slammed down beside the dude's head so hard it had somehow chipped off the surface a little. (He pushed back the urge to immediately take his feet off since it was never his thing to do that)

He glared down onto them, looking pretty much like a demon. "I said,  **leave**." And they did. Scrambling off with their tails between their legs. One of them, if he wasn't wrong, had shouted demon, and another wailed for his mother.

The almost forgotten girls then thanked Ryuuichi, to which he had sheepishly accepted and said that it was nothing, before rushing off before they had anything else more they wanted to say. He was never good at talking to strangers, even though he could.

By the time he had reached where Tsuna and the others was supposed to be, they were gone, probably because Lambo had rushed them to the next one. He didn't mind it, since he had actually wanted to ditch them. He simply went straight to where Lampo was, which was the castle of the Amusement Park.

When he had opened the door to the room Lampo stayed to wait for Tsuna and the others. He watched as the man brighten, thinking that it was the others, but slumped back when he realized that it was Ryuuichi.

"Well, I might as well give you my acceptance right now.." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at that. "I had done nothing though...?" It was similar to when Asari had given him his test, without saying anything. Lampo sluggishly rolled his eyes. "I saw that you had helped these two girls, and that's had fulfilled what I wanted to see" He stood up. (Ryuuichi stuttered, flushing a little)

"My test for you was the unhesitant on helping someone in need." He shrugged. "That, and I don't wanna get hit after all" The last one had left Ryuuichi in wonder. Who would bother to hit Lampo just because he didn't give Ryuuichi his acceptance anyway? He somehow doesn't want to know.

"O.... kay..?"

"Ring" He slid it in.

" _I, Lampo, accept Shiroki Ryuuichi_ " And he was glowing again, in bright green. His ring too. There was another click. The similar feeling when Asari had gave him his acceptance rushed through him again. For some reason, this time, there was small tingling feeling, like electricity coursing through him.

Another of the rectangles of his ring, turned green. Lampo ruffled his hair, muttering about troublesome stuff and all as Ryuuichi looked at his ring, not bothering to question the man about anything since he probably won't get his answer. Suddenly, a rumble, followed by more and more vibrations and explosions were heard.

'Ah. They're here' Might as well go away before any of them see him there.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *roll on the floor* First chapter for the Inheritance Succession Arc~!
> 
> I've no idea what I was doing with Asari's part *sob*
> 
> Perhaps I should just write like how I always do.... Or not *shrug*
> 
> Though, there would be changes. Somehow. I would follow the original appearance of the First Gen, but Ryuuichi's acceptances would change. The next chapter would be G and Daemon. Alaude's would be the last along with Giotto's instead of being with Knuckle's. Yeah
> 
> YEP! YUUICHI WOULD APPEAR IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!! YAYYY- *slapped*
> 
> I've no idea how to describe the feeling that Ryuuichi had felt when he got his acceptances so I'll leave it to you guys to imagine it.
> 
> I don't really have any idea on Asari, Lampo and G's, (And probably Daemon's) so it would be a tad bit weird. Or a lot.
> 
> BTW the Hibari part. Yeah. I've nothing to say.
> 
> And if you noticed it, I've added another day in between Asari's and Lampo's when Lampo's should be the day after Asari's. I kindda wrote til 2K words before finding it very weird, and was too lazy to change anything. [Current me= *cringe*]
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	35. G and Daemon

For the whole morning in school, Ryuuichi hadn't once let go of Yuuichi. He even had sat beside him even when class had started, instead of behind his brother. The teachers couldn't do anything about it seeing that Ryuuichi would growl at them and Yuuichi would just give them the puppy eyes, so they gave up. Once the twins were like that, it would be hard to separate them.

That, and Ryuuichi hadn't met Tsuna and the others until P.E period, where they were playing soccer. Due to various reasons, he and his brother had sat out. (One still too tired, and one doesn't want to let go of his brother, which was an excuse because he couldn't play soccer. He was never good at sports. Not really) When they had first stepped onto the football field after changing in the toilet instead of the changing room because Ryuuichi still had his conflict on taking off his shirt in front of other people, Ryuuichi had stiffen for a few minutes upon seeing Gokudera.

He blinked a few times, frozen at his spot. Gokudera looked different. No, that wasn't Gokudera. The bomber-look-alike noticed his stare and asked if there was anything wrong, to which he had realized that it was G. "A-ah.. Yeah. Nothing's wrong. G-gotta go" He intentionally the man's name before covering it up. As he walked towards the opposite side of the court while pulling Yuuichi along, 'Gokudera' with quite large eyes stared at his back, before he smirked. 'As expected of him'

Yuuichi raised an eyebrow at his brother's weird behavior and his sentence to 'Gokudera' just now. He wondered why did his brother did that, and why does 'Gokudera' sounded weird. That, and is it him or did his brother grew stronger during the period he wasn't with him? Ryuuichi somehow looked more... Sturdy and powerful, for some reasons. Not to mention Ryuuichi looked more fatigue than he usually would. Yuuichi did asked about it, but his brother had brushed it off.

Ryuuichi inwardly sighed as he stood near to Yuuichi while watching the football match. He had almost forgotten about G's succession test for Tsuna and the others. Or more specific, Tsuna and Gokudera's. It had been years since he last watched the whole anime again after all so everything was hazy at best. He briefly wondered when would the man test him as he leaned against Yuuichi, yawning.

He peered towards his brother, who's eyes were on those on the field, observing their moves and whatsoever. He knew that Yuuichi had noticed something different. About Tsuna and the others. About him. It sometimes scared when his brother was so sharp. Then again, their parents were sharp too. Perhaps it runs in the family?

He internally grunted tiredly and turned to hug his brother from his back, burying his face into Yuuichi's shoulder. Seriously, flame deprive with the addition of blood deprive never feel good. And no, he's not a vampire. Sadly

\----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi was walking around the school compound aimlessly. He had decided to stay back and wait for Yuuichi's training to end. For some weird reason, his brother's spartan coach had immediately started their practice right after they came back from their so called hell. (He sweated when his brother's coach had came dragging him to practice when he was about to sneak out with him, briefly sympathizing him. Ryuuichi hadn't want to die after all)

His clubs, on the other hand, were all on break. Why, he doesn't know but he had suspected it was a certain prefect's work seeing that his clubs members, both Archery and Chess, was very edgy when he had talked to them. He turned to a corner only to bump into someone. He was about to jump back to stop himself from falling down along with the weight of his back pack behind him when a hand had grabbed his arm and another snaked it's way on his waist, pulling him towards the person.

He blinked, wondering what had just happened and looked up a little to see someone he hadn't see before. "Ah- Sorry" If anything, he was a bit surprised at the low voice but he hadn't show it. He pushed himself away from the stranger's strong grasp and bowed a little. "I'm sorry too. Please excuse me" He walked away in a steady, yet haste pace, away from the other teen. His fist were clenching and unclenching. For some reason, the teen unnerved him a little. (Not to mention he had midnight blue hair that could be mistaken as black and a pair of matching eyes)

Unknown to him, the teen had stared at his back until he disappeared through another corner with a frown on his face.

Ryuuichi sighed in relief when he finally got out of the other's view. He slowed down his pace, relaxing a little. He frowned, looking at his arm. That touch was a tad bit familiar for some reason. He bit his inner cheeks, stomping down on some memories that threaten to rush out. He huffed, walking up to the roof. The moment he had slammed shut the roof, he yelped out loud when G appeared in front of him, back on the door. Seriously, what's with them and surprising him?

"What the-" He scowled at the man who was smirking at him. He narrowed his eyes at G when he snickered at him, but rolled his eyes in annoyance and resignation a little while after that. The tension in him that he hadn't notice had disappeared.

"So, how's everything?" He meant by Tsuna and Gokudera's succession test, to which G had shrugged. "It went well. But whatever. Let's begin yours" G snapped his finger, and suddenly everything changed. The whole scenery changed into a room full with other people. Children, to be exact. Then, he noticed that he was somewhat shorter and took a look at a reflecting glass. His eyes widen when he saw that he had changed into a child.

'Illusions... Or at least that's what I want to believe' He wasn't exactly trained to differentiate illusions from real things. And if the illusionist is someone like Mukuro, Mammon, or even Vongola's First Mist, it would be harder even when he could actually differentiate them. Though, he was certain that this was an illusion, much to his dismay.

"Hey, hey~ Let's play!" One of the children asked, tugging his sleeves. A girl with a pony tail. "Umm.. Where are we..?" He tried to inch away from the girl, finding everything creepy. The girl, looked a little surprised and all but giggled rather gleefully at his question, making him frown. "Where are we?" A large maniac grin had plastered on her face. "We are all in you, silly"

His eyes widen. '... What?' The other children, slowly, one by one stood beside the girl and formed a circle around him. Cornering him into one spot. He gritted his teeth. His weapons were nowhere to be found on him, and those kids were seriously getting him. He tensed up, getting on his fighting stance if one of them decided to jump on him.

"We are you~" One of the boys said, having a smirk on his face. The other one beside him had a gloomy aura around him but that wasn't what scared Ryuuichi. It was the fact that he was bloody to kingdom come. The boy's hands were bloody, his white shirt were drenched in red, which probably was blood, and there a small puddle of red behind him. He was holding hands with another girl, who was in similar condition.

His eyes widen again, finally realizing who they were. They were all his feelings that he had buried all these years. These children, are him, and  _her_. (Why children, don't ask him) And then, they somehow begun to chant in a sing sang tone again and again. They had sang those words that had haunted him, or rather,  _her_  through her beginning of 16 years of life. "Failure, worthless, unwanted,  **alone** "

His heart stung at that. He had always stomped it down, ignoring it to the point he had forgotten about it, and at the same time, forgetting how scary it is. He took a shaky breath, and shouted. "I'm not!" It was a lie. He knew that all of those are still true. He was never wanted by anyone. He would always be alone. He would always be a failure. Even if it doesn't apply to him in this world, it applies to  _her_. These feelings will always exists.

They began to laugh loudly, giggling in a mocking tone at him. Most of them had this crazy smile on, similar to the first girl that had talked to him.

They had begun to move closer to him, hands reaching out for him. He wanted to avoid them, but he could as they were all around him. He tried to fight them off as they had gotten to close, but he had somehow got caught by a few. Their strength were unexpectedly strong, so strong that he couldn't break it off. Still, he struggled. He was then grasped by all of them. Their strong grip had pushed him down. The floor suddenly gave away and he was slowly sinking, pulled down by the children.

He struggled even harder. Fear grew in him but everything he does were futile. As he was about to sink down fully, he noticed them crying. 'Why are they crying?' Why does it hurts? It wasn't because the fact that he might just  _die_  there. He didn't know why, but everything hurts. Both physically and mentally. Yuuichi's face along with Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Sakura, Kei, Hibari, Dino, Reborn and a few more others suddenly appeared in his mind. His eyes widen, somewhat getting teary.

He doesn't want to leave them. The pain and fear grew upon them. It wasn't like how he had thought. He thought that if he were to die, he would just go. He hadn't expect that he would actually  _don't_  want to. The loneliness he hadn't exactly felt for years burst in him.

And exactly at that point, he had realized that he never was alone. Not in his past life, not in this. (Although in the past,  _she_  was alone in some way, but that had stopped until she met that one person who she first opened up to.) In this life, he has Yuuichi. He has Hibari. He has Sakura and Kei. He has a whole lot more of people who would remember him. People,  _friends_  who would be with him.

'Guys....' A lone tear dropped as he murmured. "I'm not alone....." The sinking suddenly stopped, the children all looked at him. He said it again, louder. "I was never alone..... I was never forgotten.. I..." Realization, acceptance and gladness filled him. "I have a meaning"

The children, slowly smile and before he knew it, they disappeared. His view changed back to the roof, G still standing in front of him while frowning. He had not idea why he was frowning, but he didn't managed to ask as his knees suddenly bucked and he fell down onto his knees. He blinked in surprise. His hands were trembling and he felt weak for some reason.

"You alright?" G was kneeling in front of him, offering a hand. Ryuuichi numbly nodded as he had no energy to speak at that moment. He breathe in and out for a few moments, kneeling there before finally taking G's hand. He was pulled up with the man supporting him, stumbling a little.

"......... Right... What the hell was that...?" He silently asked with slight venom in it. G opened his mouth once, before closing it. ".... That was actually to test your bravery... Though I don't know why it went that way"

"You... Don't know?" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at him to which he was answered by a shrug. He was getting a bit annoyed by that. "Daemon!" The said man suddenly appeared from indigo flames, chuckling his usual laugh. "My my, aren't you impatient, G" The man smirked at G. G grunted in irritation, gesturing to Ryuuichi, telling Daemon to answer the teen.

Ryuuichi was confused as heck. Wasn't G supposed to never contacted Daemon after what had happen 400 years ago? Weren't they supposed to be in a 'cold war'? Unless it was Giotto, Daemon had never met with the rest of the First Generation, or did he, Ryuuichi couldn't remember. His mind was a bit too occupied by what had happened and was focusing on what was happening to dig that memory out.

"It was my work. Beautiful, isn't it" He snarled at that. "Beautiful my ass. It got me a damn headache" Daemon just had to push his buttons, don't he? The man looked all but smug and amused at his reaction. "Hmm~ That's good" The teen just simply scowled at him.

"Anyways!" G decided to interject before any of them could say anything, glaring at Daemon. 'Wait for your damn turn' The man nonchalantly shrugged, still smirking. G turned to Ryuuichi with a serious face but the teen was too tired and cranky to even care about whatever was going to happen.

"Shiroki Ryuuichi, based on what I've saw, and judged, you've passed my test, bravery to fight against your fear" Ryuuichi looked away slightly, mumbling that he didn't did anything at all. "You did." He gazed up at G in confusion. The man had a surprisingly soft smile on, signalling him to put his ring on, which he did. G raised his hands up.

" _I, G, accept Shiroki Ryuuichi_ " The said teen's body glowed in red as one of the colorless rectangles on his ring turned red. The man backed off once the glowing dispersed and Daemon stepped forward.

"Nufufufufu~ I was about to give you a harsher one, but I suppose that skylark would kill me if I do, too bad" Ryuuichi rolled his eyes, though raised an eyebrow when Daemon mentioned about 'skylark'. He briefly wondered if the man was referring to the certain prefect, of the first Cloud. "Well, you did passed my test, seeing through illusions and shine through your inner demons" He refused to believe that he had saw a passing proud look on Daemon's face.

" _I, Daemon Spade, accept Shiroki Ryuuichi_ " Again, his body glowed, but in indigo whilst another of the rectangles turned indigo. "May our path cross once more, Shiroki Ryuuichi" G and Daemon said before they disappeared into thin air. The said teen huffed once they disappeared, slumping down on the wall and sat on the ground, burying his faces under his arms. His whole body tremble as he clutched on his arms tightly to the point his knuckles had turned white.

He was anything but crying. No, it was more like he couldn't. The tears wouldn't come out. Though, he was certain that he was, internally, that is. He calmed his breathing down with a few deep breathes, trying to get oxygen into his lungs. He felt like suffocating.

The illusion, although an illusion, it was real enough to wreak havoc in Ryuuichi. What happened, was something Ryuuichi had never notice before despite asking himself for almost a thousand times. A part of him wanted to kill Daemon (Despite that the man had already died long time ago), but another part of him wanted to thank the man for showing him that. Really, he was thankful for that. (Still, a punch would be satisfying)

And, he so do not want to go through that again.

He didn't know how long he had stayed in that position but when he finally moved, his whole arms and legs were numb. His fingers were tired from clutching too tightly. He flexed his fingers and legs before pushing himself up. He sighed loudly, rubbing the back of his neck before getting off the roof to the stairs, going to the gymnasium where Yuuichi would be.

Perhaps he was too off that he didn't noticed the same teen that he bumped into earlier by the wall, hiding.

\--------------------------------------------------

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuu~" Ryuuichi whined out, clinging onto his brother tightly, arms around the younger's waist in a vice grip. Yuuichi sighed. "Ryuu.... Let go of me" "Whyy??"

"Because I'm freaking holding a knife!!!" As on cue, he raised up the said knife into the air. The knife was actually dripping some red liquid, which was blood, from the fish. He was cooking for their dinner when Ryuuichi, who had showered, suddenly caged him into an embrace and wouldn't let go. Sometimes, he seriously wondered why his oh-so-matured brother is so childish. But then again, it would always be a rare sight when that happens.

Though, this wasn't the time. Not when he was holding something that could actually injure one of them if he wasn't careful enough.

He sighed. "Did something happened today?" He felt his brother stiffen behind him for almost a full minute. When Ryuuichi had fetched him from the gymnasium that evening, he had noticed something wrong with his brother. He was more, solemn and sad? Yuuichi wasn't sure but he knew that Ryuuichi wasn't in a good mood.

He felt Ryuuichi nodded a little, and sighed again. "Do you want to talk about it" Of course, his brother would shake his head. He never tells Yuuichi anything after all. Yuuichi frowned at that, but respected his brother's wish.

"Well, whatever it was, remember that I will always be with you..." Another short nod was his reply. "Now let go of me!!" Ryuuichi pouted a little and let go, but not before squeezing him once. One of these days, he would find out whatever was bothering his brother and burn it to the seventh hell.

After all, no one is allowed to even touch his brother unless they have his permission. Physically, and mentally. A dark smirk appeared on his face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'VE NO IDEA WHAT WAS I DOING WITH THIS ONE
> 
> About the cold war between G and Daemon, I'm not sure about it but yeah.
> 
> This chapter is basically weird as hell
> 
> The unnamed teen actually plays an important part in arcs after the Curse of Rainbow Arc. I WON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT HIM NOW SO YEAH
> 
> Fun Fact= Creepy children are now in Ryuuichi's list of fears.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	36. Knuckle and Alaude

 

 Would it be surprising if Ryuuichi were to wake up to Knuckle staring at him? Apparently no. Though, he did yelped so loud that he accidentally woke up the neighbor. Fortunately, that dude immediately slept back after that. Unfortunately, Yuuichi came running into his room to check on him, already clad in his uniform. He was wearing a blue apron, looking particularly concerned. "Ryuu?! What's wrong?!"

The said teen quite disheveled from tossing and turning around in his sleep, his baggy shirt hanging of his shoulder. He quickly shook his head, nervously ruffling his messy hair and chuckled sheepishly. "N-no. I thought I just saw a... cockroach. Which is actually the dust!!" He quickly added.

Yuuichi looked around his room, before frowning. "Really?" "Yes!" He stared at his brother for a few moments before slowly walking out. "Al.. Right... Come down for breakfast afterwards, okay?" Ryuuichi nodded, smiling. He waited for a while, before rushing to see if his brother was still there and closed the door, locking it.

He turned around and leaned onto the door, giving Knuckle a 'Seriously?' look. The man gave him a small smile, but was amused. He rolled his eyes, looking towards the digital clock before huffing, using his hands to brush his hair. "Soooo...." He softly said, not wanting to alert his brother for talking too loudly. "What pleasure do I have to have you staring at me while I'm sleeping?" He sharply asked.

Knuckle raised an eyebrow before blinking. "My apologizes" He laughed. "It's just that you looked so peaceful that I don't feel like waking you up" The teen frowned. "You can, though." He mumbled. His hand raised up to cover his mouth when he yawned. He breathed in deeply, giving Knuckle a questioning look.

"Ah, no. I'm just here to check on something." Ryuuichi frowned at that. He wondered why the man would come to his house, and stare at him in his sleep. He had wanted to ask further, but decided against it. He simply hummed, walking off to get ready for the day. For some reason, he didn't give a damn to these things anymore. (A lie, because he definitely was annoyed and crept out by it)

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Ryuuichi?" Tsuna called out for the teen with a concerned frown on. The teen had been fidgeting non-stop the whole day, and was quite jumpy as if something was following him. (Technically, there was) Ryuuichi wasn't normally shaken by most thing and when he does, he would always show something quite fascinating to them. The brunette, although was amused, was no doubt worried too.

He wasn't exactly the sharpest one, but he did noticed that Ryuuichi wasn't like his usual self these days. Perhaps right after the Choice. Tsuna scowled inwardly at the memories and shook them out. Instead, he focused on Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi snapped out of his reverie and blinked at the brunette in questioning. He twitched a little when he felt a small chill ran through him. "Yeah?" "Are you alright?" He blinked again, nodding at that but said nothing more. He peered to his back and scowled. For some reason, he could felt the First Generations' presences more than when Asari was following him. Perhaps it has something to do with the acceptances and all, but still, it's quite creepy.

Like, who likes it when there's actually something following you around all day? And the fact that you can't see it?

Well, Ryuuichi certainly doesn't.

But sadly, he can't do anything about it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

The door to the rooftop was suddenly pushed open, surprising two students who were reading comic books. They stuttered as they quickly scrambled away and out of the roof, and definitely away from the certain prefect. He had said nothing tho, but they simply just ran away. His attention were immediately taken by an aura as he whipped his head towards the direction, eyes narrowed.

Purple flame suddenly appeared before a man was seen. Hibari had taken his tonfa out from who-knows-where as he went into fighting stance though, Alaude had no intention on fighting him.

"Don't jump into conclusions. I've no intention to fight you." Hibari, as stubborn as usual, rushed forward to hit the man, only to miss as Alaude jumped back and onto the higher part. He unintentionally (or not) provoked Hibari that he wasn't strong enough to warrant the man's attention. (But who was he lying to? Hibari did gained his attention. Though, not on this)

"Besides, I may have been a member of the First Generation Vongola Family but I despise being affiliated with anything. However, I am required to see if you are worthy of receiving the inheritance of the Guardian of the Cloud Ring."

"Though, I do not plan on using Trial by combat" That had killed Hibari's motivation on even participating the trial. If there's nothing in it that would at least sate his blood lust for a bit, it's simply nothing but boredom to him.

That attitude of his had reminded Alaude of himself. The man was once like him, everything must be according to the law- his own law- and the cause of thrill would always be fights. Until  _he_  showed him that violence isn't everything. He sighed inwardly as he closed his pocket watch.

"I suppose I should still tell you" Hibari stopped his track to the door. "I shall deem you worthy of my inheritance if you somehow demonstrate your value as the Guardian of the Cloud Ring. I will allow you to choose the method" Once he finished, Hibari simply continued walking. Though, he stopped yet again when the door opened and Ryuuichi stepped in.

Ryuuichi blinked in surprised when he saw Hibari and Alaude, even more towards the man. 'Oh. Right' He suddenly felt awkward when both look-a-like stared at him with the similar, indifferent eyes. Yet, Alaude's held something more. "Erhhh, hi..?" He greeted, sounding a little stupid but the tensed atmosphere was getting onto him.

Alaude wasn't exactly expecting to meet Ryuuichi. At least, not now. His eyes turned solemn as he watched the teen tried to lower the tension. Suddenly,  _he_  suddenly appeared from Ryuuichi. Alaude blinked twice and frowned lightly when  _he_  disappeared. Perhaps it was a trick of light.

"Umm--- Alaude-san...?" He looked at Ryuuichi, who was frowning too. In concern, if he had not read wrongly. Hibari, on the other hand, had turned to him and literally gave him a glare. He gave the prefect a quick narrowed eyes before turning to the youngest of them all.

"Not yet, Shiroki Ryuuichi"

The said teen raised an eyebrow at that when Alaude suddenly disappeared before he jump away to dodge an incoming tonfa onto his face. His eyes wide in surprise as he gave Hibari a 'What-The-Hell' face.

Hibari snarled. And growled. He didn't know why, but there was this growing rage in him when he saw Alaude and Ryuuichi interact. He hated that, and hated why it was affecting him this much. His annoyance grew as he stared at Ryuuichi. The younger had his hands up, clearly surrendering to whatever Hibari was going to do, yet his legs were ready to run if anything happen. He snarled one more time and had promptly stalked away without a word. He has some biting to do after all. (That, and he might accidentally kill Ryuuichi if he stays there with the emotions running him wild)

Ryuuichi blinked, trying to process what had happen. Like, one second, Hibari was simply calm, but a tad bit annoyed for some reason, and the next, the prefect was like a hissing and angered cat. He silently was relief when Hibari did nothing though, was concerned. He briefly wondered what was with the prefect. Then he remembered Alaude.

He put two and two together and finally get it. Hibari was perhaps more annoyed than he had thought he would be when Alaude refused to fight him. That must be it. Ryuuichi sighed. He seriously hoped that Hibari could lower his blood lust sometimes. Then again, he wouldn't want him to be any different then he is now. He huffed, before going back down from the roof top. Looks like his plan to irritate the prefect worked. One way or another.

(Sadly, Ryuuichi doesn't know the truth why Hibari was annoyed. Honestly, he could seriously be dense at times)

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"I refuse to take orders from you" "P-please hold on- Ack!"

Tsuna groaned in pain when his back hit the door and had literally broke it. Of course Hibari would hit him. How stupid is he to not know that? He grunted as he wait for the pain to subside while Yuni plead for the prefect to listen to the brunette. Hibari, though, didn't paid a single heed to it and walked away. He was stopped by the bomber, followed by Yamamoto along with Fon and Colonello.

Yamamoto and Colonello tried to talk some sense into him, asking him to participate in the test. The time limit giving to him was running out after all. Hibari, for some reason, was even more annoyed then he actually was. Fortunately for Yamamoto, he didn't take his tonfa out and hit him. He simply just walked passed him.

\----------------------------------------------------------

A little while later, Tsuna, Yuni, Yamamoto and Gokudera gathered at the roof top. The Arcobaleno were there too. They were wondering what to do to convince Hibari, and suddenly out of nowhere Ryohei got absolutely fired up. His eyes burned as he stalked out of the roof top to find Hibari, determined to get him participating. Tsuna tried to hold him up first but the older teen was already gone.

As Ryohei walked out, Ryuuichi appeared. He had his headphones on, and hands in his pocket. He was staring at the disappearing back of Ryohei's before turning to the rest. "Why is he so fired up?" Tsuna gave him a slightly wry smiled and explained. Ryuuichi nodded and looked back to the stair case for a while. He could briefly see Knuckle following the older teen. Finally, the man decided to leave Ryuuichi alone.

He shrugged and walked towards the shade. He leaned back onto the wall and slid down. The rest were giving him a confused look. "Don't mind me" He waved his hand nonchalantly. He decided to stay there til the commotion starts. And he did. The others had went down to find Hibari, trying to persuade the prefect yet again. Damn, was Hibari stubborn. Though, he wouldn't want him to be anything but himself. He chuckled softly at the thought.

He looked up to the azure sky and watched the clouds drifted pass. Things had been going the way he hadn't expected. He had first joined Tsuna and the others in this wild and dangerous chase to find his answers, and to spectate, of course. That was the initial motive. Now, it has changed. It changed into the want to protect them, to be their shield, and to be with them. It has changed when he realized that he love all of them so damn much that it hurts, and the answers were no longer his priority.

He realized it after G and Daemon's test for him. The realization had wrecked freaking havoc and chaos in him. Which explained why he was so weird recently. It was foreign and a tad bit scary to him. It made Ryuuichi so edgy that he just wanted to destroy something. Okay, not to that point but yeah. Yet, he didn't mind it.

That was one. The other one was the freaking thing about Byakuran wanting him. Just because he interested the White Marshmallow Freak. He shuddered at that thought. Definitely not a good thing. He doesn't get which part of him interested the man into this obsession. (That sounded a bit weird that Ryuuichi immediately frowned at) Perhaps Yuni, but not him. Definitely not him. So why?

He huffed. Because of that, he was literally dragged into the light without even a tiny bit of warning. He had lived his whole life as in the shadow of the others, so this was a whole new thing to him. He wasn't used to it, and was crept out by it. But, he somehow liked it. In a sense.

Ryuuichi sighed at that. His mind drifted to Knuckle. The man probably was going to give him his test. Either that or he was just going to give him his approval. He didn't exactly understood why, but perhaps it was guts feeling. Or instinct. Whatever it is. Then again, what was this test all about in the first place? He knew he was taking it for the answers, but why was it given to him was something he didn't know.

Honestly, he hadn't thought that he would make it this far. Of course, he had thought of this before, heck, even declared that he would reach for his answers and nothing could stop him, but he hadn't exactly expect it to come true. Not fully, but reaching. His hopes and expectations doesn't usually happens, so he wouldn't be surprise if he didn't succeed. And yet, he did. Well, when does life ever goes the way one expects anyway.

Suddenly and out of nowhere, Yuuichi crossed his mind and he paled. How was he going to explain all this to his brother when it's over? He groaned at that when his parents slowly appeared in his mind. He groaned even louder. Once all this ends, he's so screwed.

He sighed again, closing his eyes as he leaned his head onto the wall. Everything was just so calm right now. It was so quiet that it was a tad bit unsettling. This was like the calm before the storm, or in another term, the calm before shit hit the fan. Not literally. Okay, the last term was slightly unnecessary but it had Ryuuichi laughing out loud briefly.

"What are you laughing about?" "AHH-!" Ryuuichi yelped in surprised. He groaned loudly at the man, trying to calm his beating heart down. "Can you  _ **please**_ stop that. The others too--" Knuckle chuckled at that. Seriously, Ryuuichi is someone very amusing to tease. So scarily similar to  _him_.

Knuckle gave the younger a looped sided smile and apologized. Ryuuichi grunted in acceptance, but was no doubt fed up with it. Like, they had been scaring him by  _popping_  out of freaking nowhere without prior notice and it was like ghost jumping out of the freaking closet to scare some unfortunate homo sapi- humans. Oh wait. They  _are_  ghost. Ryuuichi face palmed so hard that it left a small red mark.

Knuckle laughed at that as he moved to stand beside Ryuuichi, leaning against the wall. The younger looked up and gave him a raised eyebrow, but he didn't looked back at him. He simply stared at the sky where the sun was starting to set, giving it an orange red and yellow splash of color. Ryuuichi blinked at the solemn look, but turned towards the sky as well.

They silently looked at the sky for a moment, before Ryuuichi broke it. "Why?" Knuckle finally turned to him and made a questioning sound. "Why is it that you look sad every time you see me? Not just you. The rest of the first generation too" Ryuuichi asked, voice unwavering. They thought that he doesn't notice it, but he did. Every time, he could see a flicker of sadness in their eyes.

"....... Because you---" "No, it's alright." Ryuuichi pulled his legs to his chest, hugging it close. "I don't expect an answer now.... Ne, Knuckle-san"

"As the sun will rise each day, the moon shall too. Both leave marks that will never disappear, no matter how different they are each day. Don't you think so?"

Knuckle blinked at that. He wondered by Ryuuichi suddenly said such thing out of nowhere, but something in him was put on ease. He didn't know what it was, but Ryuuichi do. The younger could see that the man still haven't fully let go of the fact that it was no longer his time, no longer his live. His time, has long stopped. Ryuuichi saw it. The changes, after all, would leave one baffled. He was one of them after all, so he knew.

"I guess"

Ryuuichi smiled.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi clapped softly once everything was over. It was an impressive combi-fight from Hibari and Ryohei. Though, he doubt that the prefect would admit it. He made his way to the ground where the rest were. When he finally reached, he saw Knuckle appeared from yellow flames. He walked up to stand beside the Arcobaleno as he watched the man give Ryohei his pass.

"I deem you extremely worthy of my inheritance as the Guardian of the Sun Ring. I was shown the entire chain of events" Tsuna wondered what could he meant by that. What has they done to show the First Generation of Sun Guardian? Like, the man hadn't even showed up and told them what to do in the first place.

"Guardian of Sun Ring for Vongola Decimo, Sasagawa Ryohei" The said teen greeted back. "You never back down when you were pushed away, and used your extreme optimism to try to persuade the Guardian of Cloud Ring. And you stood against adversity without any fear, for the sake of your friend. As a result, you were able to save the school and successfully persuaded the Guardian of Cloud Ring, a feat no other family member was able to do."

"Your actions show you to be a bright and shining sun that smashes adversity with your body! And you didn't need me to tell you I was evaluating you, as you do this on daily basis. I accept you as the Guardian of Sun Ring, to the extreme" Right after Knuckle ended his 'little' speech, Ryohei yelled in excitement and happiness.

Suddenly, another flame appeared, a purple one to be exact. Alaude materialized as the flame dispersed. "This guy's the Guardian of the Cloud Ring, Alaude" Knuckle introduced.

Ryuuichi glanced at I-Pin, who was blushing upon Alaude's sight, and laughed silently. She looked at Alaude, then to Fon, and then to Hibari. Oh dear, a boom was soon to be set off.

"Guardian of Cloud Ring for Vongola Decimo, Hibari Kyouya. An aloof cloud that guards the family independently. You were able to refrain from fraternizing with the family, while adapting to the situation and protecting these people. I laud you for your wise judgement. I deem you worthy of the Guardian of the Cloud Ring's inheritance." Everyone was relief, but the said teen couldn't care less as he took out his tonfas and demanded for a fight from the man.

The rest then tried to stop him from doing so whilst Ryuuichi laughed out loud at that. Alaude and Knuckle peered at him, but said nothing.

Alaude then engaged into a staring contest with Hibari when Knuckle commented that the prefect was similar to his younger self. Alaude didn't say anything, and didn't deny it, which made Ryuuichi snickered harder.

"Guardian of Sun Ring for Vongola Decimo." Ryohei turned to the man. "Guardian of Cloud Ring"

"I now bequeath your inheritance." They both said at the same time in unison, before turning into flames. There, Hibari and Ryohei gained their passes as their box weapon glowed.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi was about to crash into Hibari's home when yellow flames flared in front of him and Knuckle appeared. "Oh, hello again" Knuckle smiled at that, but turned serious.

"Shiroki Ryuuichi. Do you, to the extreme, will continue moving forward and not stop, for whatever comes in your way?" Ryuuichi was taken aback by the question. He wasn't sure how to answer it since he didn't know if he was still in static, or has begun. But, he nodded, saying 'yes' with a determined voice.

"And will you push them up when they're down as how would they push you up when you are down?"

"..... Yes" Knuckle's lips tugged upward.

"Then,  _I, Knuckle, accept Shiroki Ryuuichi to the extreme_ " Ryuuichi's body glowed in yellow. One of the colorless rectangle in his ring turned yellow, leaving two left. When the glowing stopped, he looked at the ring and scrunched his eyebrows. He wondered when will Alaude give him his. He knew that Giotto's will be last, but having Alaude and Daemon's switching was weird. It should be Alaude's first before Daemon's, if it were to follow Tsuna and the other's tests. But after the slight changes, it was all weird.

Knuckle could see his conundrum and chuckled. "Don't worry, Alaude will give you his. I'm sure"

"May we meet again, Shiroki Ryuuichi" The said teen wasn't be able to say anything before Knuckle disappeared. He just stared at the empty spot where the man once stood and his ring. Suddenly, a hand were brought down and hit him on his neck, rendering him unconscious.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Knuckle had somewhat appeared in the morning in Ryuuichi's room to 'check on something'? Yeah, will explain it later.
> 
> And yes, Ryuuichi could feel their 'presence' even they hid it very well. Though, it sounded a bit creepy and weird for some reason.
> 
> Hibari was jealous, but he didn't realized that.
> 
> Ryuuichi didn't really like changes, but he didn't dislike it too. He just couldn't get why it happens sometimes as it was hard to grasp. That, and changes is sometime shitty.
> 
> I've absolutely no idea what should I do for Knuckles so I kindda ended up with him asking questions instead. Also, Knuckle trust Ryuuichi. Which is why he could give him his acceptance just like that knowing that Ryuuichi wouldn't disappoint him.
> 
> The crashing into Hibari's house was something that I don't even know why I write that.....
> 
> Alaude's acceptance will occur in the next chapter because of various reasons. 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	37. The First Cloud and Giotto

"Tsunayoshi!" The said brunette along with Yamamoto and Gokudera turned around, and saw Yuuichi running towards them. The teen stopped in front of Tsuna, panting lightly. "Tsunayoshi. Have you seen Ryuuichi?" Tsuna frowned. Why would Yuuichi ask him about his own brother's whereabouts? 'Unless...' He shook his head, to both shake the negative thought away and as a gesture that he hadn't seen Ryuuichi at all.

"No. I haven't seen him all day.."

True, he didn't see him at all. He wasn't at the roof top, nor was Ryuuichi with Hibari. It was when Hibari appeared, looking all grumpy and all did he realized that Ryuuichi was absent. At first he thought that the teen was simply sick and stayed home, but with Yuuichi here now, it doesn't seem right.

Yuuichi himself frowned, his breathing calmed. He had been searching for him since the morning and now it has already 2 in the evening and he still couldn't find his brother. When he tried to call him, his phone was offed. He hadn't ask Hibari, which he should have done it in the first place. Ryuuichi had told him that he would be going to stay over at the prefect's and would straight go to school in the morning, but he didn't. He was marked absent, and the reason was something even Yuuichi himself doesn't know.

He felt even worried when Tsuna, one of their friends whom Ryuuichi would always hang out with besides the prefect, said that he didn't know. He looked to the other two and frowned even harder when they, too, shook their head.

Tsuna's hyper intuition was ringing right after that and he immediately called out for the teen. "D-don't worry Yuuichi.. Umm.. Ryuuichi will be alright! He'll probably be back later--" He sweated when Yuuichi doesn't seem to believe him. Fortunately for the brunette, Yuuichi nodded as he felt like he could believe him. Plus, Ryuuichi wasn't one to disappear without a reason so he would definitely come back.

He darkened at that thought. Ryuuichi is so going to get a good beating when he comes back.

(The three of them try to push down the shiver that was coursing through them when they noticed the changes in Yuuichi's aura and even backed away a little.)

Now... Where the hell is Ryuuichi?

Meanwhile, Reborn, who was on the sideline (Trees) watching them, tilted his fedora down a little. He wasn't smirking nor smiling at all as a thoughtful look was cast.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sneezed once, body jerked slightly and tugged at the rope that bound his hands together at his back. He sniffed, feeling as thought someone was talking about him. He sighed, and looked out the window, frowning. The sun was up high, and it was very  **very**  sunny, which meant it was probably in the afternoon currently. Which also meant that he had been held captive here for the whole night and half the day. He sighed, feeling deja vu for the nth time.

A sudden chill run through him before he sneezed again and the door opened. He looked up and gave his kidnapper a scowl. "Mind telling me why did you  _kidnapped_  me?"

The man chuckled, quite amused if Ryuuichi must say. "Nufufufu~ You knew what was going to happen. So I need to make sure that you don't interfere" Daemon Spade sauntered nearer Ryuuichi before crouching down to the teen's eye level. And said teen was glaring daggers at him.

Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow when Daemon stared at him and memories of when Mukuro captured him played in his mind. 'Gosh. Their resemblance are uncanny. And definitely creepy' He immediately pushed that thought away when Daemon spoke again. "Hmm~ I would ask you for a brief on what would happen but it seems like you wouldn't talk, would you?"

"Obviously"

The man smirked. "How interesting. Well then, I shall leave you to rest til all this is over" He waved his hand and an illusion was cast onto the wall, revealing a screen that shows Tsuna and the others. "This might keep you entertained for the time being. See you later"

And he was gone.

Ryuuichi groaned at that. He leaned back onto the old and tattered sofa and huffed in frustration. Unlike when he was captured by Mukuro, the rope was tied tightly, and in more complicated knots. It was so tight that he might have bruises later. He sighed at that, before perking up when he heard a familiar voice.

"Why did Chrome and Ryuuichi disappeared?"

"I'm not sure about Ryuuichi but we might learn something once we get to Kokuyo Land" It was Tsuna and the others. Even the children were with them. They were walking, to Kokuyo Land it seems. Ryuuichi blinked. Now that he thought about it, where  _is_  he? He just couldn't seem to recognize this place.

"Man, that Chrome... She's just making Juudaime worry... And Ryuuichi.." Gokudera's voice faltered and he frowned harder. Concern welled in him. The moment Yuuichi told them that Ryuuichi was missing, Gokudera felt the same fear he felt when he couldn't contact Drake. The fear of losing his light again. He had vowed that he would never let him go, and yet, he didn't managed to. He had let him disappear again.

Gokudera gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly. 'Dammit... Drake..'

"Chrome-chan would never make us worry on purpose!" Kyoko agreed with Haru as they both turned around to reprimand the bomber. "There must be a reason for this!"

"It's just as Kyoko and Haru said. There's no point in getting frustrated when you don't know the reason behind it" Reborn said upon his seat on Yamamoto's shoulder. The Arcobaleno looked a bit more blank- solemn- than usual. His student had a hunch that it was because of a certain teen.

As they were talking, Ken and Chikusa appeared. Ryuuichi blinked at their pissed off expression (Chikusa too, despite the blank face) and chuckled. Perhaps those two were affected by Chrome more than they think. He shook his head as they argued before Kyoko and Haru ran towards Kokuyo Land, shortly followed by Tsuna and Ryohei and the rest.

Ryuuichi realized that he would probably be here for quite a while and decided to lean back and watch the show. If only he could get out of this uncomfortable ropes...

Suddenly, a purple flame appeared before him and Alaude materialized, with a small frown on his face. Ryuuichi's eyes widen a little. "Umm.. Hi..?"

Alaude frown got more visible. "Why hadn't you gotten out of your binds? You should be able to do that" That was one strange question to ask after appearing out of nowhere. Then again, what is strange in this world anyway? The younger hummed. True, he could get out of it. With a lot of struggle, of course. But he could. Why hadn't he?

"... I'm not sure. But it's fine, isn't it. It's not like I mind, nor that I'm hurt or anything" He paused, looking a bit distant for some reason. "Besides, I don't mind. If me being locked up can put Daemon to peace on his plan, I would comply. This is important after all" He didn't know why, but a pang of loneliness hit him. He couldn't understand why he felt that way. There wasn't anything that would trigger him at the moment, mentally.

Then again, when did he understood his feelings anyway? True, he was beginning to understand his feelings and all, but it was hard. He had been too detached from his feelings for far too long that it was harder than he had expected to grasp it again. All in all, his own feelings still confuse him to no end.

Alaude stood there, staring at him as he got lost in his train of thoughts. He, obviously, could see the teen troubling himself with his own questions. The man, after all, was quite familiar with those unfixed, dazed gazes. His eyes soften, remembering a few pieces of his precious memories. If he could, he would absolutely turn back time into the past, where they were all together, where  _he_  is still with them. Yet, that was something that would never happen.

_"Whatever in the past, stays in the past. We could never change it, but only accepts it and move on. We could only drift along with time. Time, of course, wait for no one."_

The man's fist flexed as those word played in his mind.  _He_  was right. They couldn't change anything. They couldn't stop the time either as it doesn't stop for anyone. And yet, Alaude couldn't help but hope for it. He longed for the day where it would go back the way it was, but it would never happen.

Ryuuichi somehow snapped out of his trance and immediately noticed the vibe from the man. He looked up and saw sadness in those blue eyes. He frowned. Though he had never seen that look on Alaude before, he immediately hated it. He hated the fact that the man was sad. For what reason, he doesn't know, but the urge in him to somehow hug the man had him wanting to wipe that look off. He didn't know why, but he had a hunch that it was something from Alaude's past.

Though, Ryuuichi refrained himself from doing that.

Instead, he called out for the man's attention and looked directly into his eyes. "Alaude-san. It's a bit stupid for me to say this but.... Accept, although it burns. Move on, although is hurts"

Alaude's eyes widen. Though it wasn't the exact words, they held the same meaning. Slowly, a small smile curled on his lips. He chuckled a little at the word 'burns'. "Quite a word you used there" He watched as Ryuuichi tilted his head a little, didn't understood what he meant. The teen was right. Perhaps it's time he accepted it. Fully. He ruffled Ryuuichi's hair, much to the younger's dismay.

"Merci, Ryuuichi" And he disappeared.

Ryuuichi could felt a lingering warmth on his head when he watched the man disappear into thin air. He blinked as he tried to grasp what had happened. "That... escalated fast...?" He shook his head, smiling to himself a little. It was fine. A burden seemed to have lifted from Alaude's shoulder after his words, so it was alright. Ryuuichi felt happy that he managed to cheer the man up.

Just as he leaned back onto the back rest of the sofa, he felt his restrain broken.

"Oh"

\-----------------------------------------------------------

"Chrome!" "Chrome-chan!" Tsuna, Kyoko and Haru rushed forward and grabbed the said girl before she fell down when Mukuro disappeared. "Are you okay, Chrome-chan?"

"So he's gone..." Daemon said, disappointment laced in his voice. Yet, Mukuro had impressed him, and interested him. Mukuro was an enigma to him. 'Hm~ He perhaps could useful....' An orange flame appeared and Giotto materialized, breaking Daemon out of his reverie. "Primo"

"Daemon. I appreciate your help in evaluating the Guardian of the Mist Ring"

"There's no reason for you to thank me. I simply acted for the sake of my ideal Vongola" 'And you should be hating me...' Daemon quickly pushed that thought away and held firm. His smirk never faltered, but Ryuuichi, from where his place, could see a slight change from the man.

"However, you tested them and deemed them worthy. You fulfilled your duty." Daemon scowled at that. The pain swirled in him. "I see that you haven't changed" Giotto smiled at that. Daemon was a traitor. He had betrayed Giotto. He had betrayed the rest of the First Generation. So, why Primo didn't hate him? Why, after all he had done, Giotto wouldn't hate him. Giotto had chosen to forgive him instead, he could see that. Even when the rest of the First Generation couldn't, and hadn't forgive him, Giotto had. 'Why..?'

Tsuna too, couldn't exactly understand why, but he somehow knew. If it was him, he would surely forgive him. He didn't know why, but he definitely would.

"In any case, I deem the Guardian of the Mist Ring worthy of my inheritance. Are you satisfied now, Vongola Decimo?" When the brunette, all but had thanked him, Daemon was slightly taken aback. He was half sure that he would somehow resent him for doing these. But like Giotto, Tsuna was the ever forgiving Sky.

How ironic that the First Generation and the Tenth Generation resembles each other so much, yet they were all different.

Tsuna asked Chrome to bring out her Vongola Box and she did, weakly, when Kyoko and Haru both grasped her hand. They both gave her a determined smile and nodded. I-Pin, too, nodded. She felt so glad, and so thankful that they are all with her. She couldn't be more happier than to have a warm family. A family that cares about her.

"You may resist as you like," Daemon suddenly speak up. "But one day, you'll realize that I am right. This power will serve useful when that time comes" Daemon turned into an indigo flame. A small stream of flame went into the box, as it glowed.

Tsuna then reassured Chrome that she may use the power however she wants as relief fell into place. Now that the Mist inheritance was over, it's his turn. Finally. He frowned a little in determination, and turned to Giotto, who still had his back turned to them.

"What am I supposed to do?" Giotto glanced at Tsuna sideways. "What do I do?" It was as though seeing another himself, yet Giotto knew better than that. Decimo is better than him. Tsuna will have better judgement than him. Tsuna will be a better leader than him. He knew that it would be the best choice to leave Vongola to the brunette's hands. For the younger to change Vongola. For the younger to bring Vongola out of it's bloodied path.

"You have already fulfilled my expectations." Giotto turned to him. "It appears that you're still hiding a wealth of potential. I was watching you while your Guardians struggled to overcome their trials, and I could tell from your behavior and actions that you were always putting them first. And that didn't change when Daemon set his trap. I witnessed your resolve to protect your family, and I was impressed.

"Your guardian also responded similarly. Sawada Tsunayoshi. I deem you worthy as the boss of the Tenth Generation Vongola Family." He turned into an orange flame after his quite surprising speech that led all of them in a daze. Reborn told Tsuna, snapping him out of his trance, to bring out his Vongola box. The said brunette did as told as a stream of flame flowed into his box. Similar to Chrome's and the others' they had gotten theirs, his box glowed in orange.

"Proceed down your chosen path, Vongola Decimo... And he's in that room" And he disappeared.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi softly clapped his hand. It was quite a show to him and it was satisfying. Honestly, he didn't knew that Giotto knew where he was. Then again, it wasn't as though he himself knew either. When the screen disappeared, he took that as the sign to get out when the door suddenly burst open. "Ryuuichi!!" And he was tackled down by three people. "Oft!" His back hit the already breaking sofa which miraculously survived from the impact and felt his breathe taken away from the weight.

He looked up, wincing a little to see Gokudera on top of him, followed by Tsuna and then Yamamoto on the top of the pile. "G-guys-- Heavy-" They looked sheepish, but quickly got off of each other. Gokudera lent him a hand and pulled him up, only to pull him into a tight hug.

"God-- I was so,  _ **so**_  worried that you would leave me again, Drake..." He could briefly felt slight trembles from the bomber as he lowly whispered into his shoulder. Gokudera hold onto him tightly, hands curled into his shirt. Ryuuichi blinked, before smiling softly. He brought his arms around Gokudera, and softly said. "Thank you, Yato.." 'I'll never, ever leave you, or anyone else..' He tighten his grip reassuringly.

After a moment later, Gokudera slowly released him, though not fully when Ryohei suddenly yelled group hug and everyone were pulled into it, save for Reborn who simply jumped onto Ryuuichi's head.

He laughed as they all said that they were glad and all, and it suddenly turned into a lecture of sort. His heart swelled, feeling as though he truly belonged.

'Thank you, everyone..'

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi took a deep breathe before he opened the door to his house. He was slightly nervous. He wondered what Yuuichi's reaction would be, and he knew that he wouldn't get away that easily this time. He sighed a little as he closed the door and turned around, muttering I'm home when he jumped. His back hit the door as he yelped in surprise when he saw a very pissed off Yuuichi standing there with his arms crossed.

"Where were you?" Ryuuichi could literally hear the venom in his brother's voice, and anger clearly laced and flared in his eyes. Oh dear, his brother was furious. Ryuuichi had officially killed himself. "U-u-ummm.. A friend's house..?" He said nervously and with doubt when Yuuichi stalked forward and kabe-donned him, face inches from his. He tried to shrink away from his brother's dark brown eyes but failed.

"Who?"

"Ummm...." He stayed in silence, wondering how was he going to explain Kokuyo Land and Chrome to Yuuichi. It was tensed, and Ryuuichi simply just wanted to run away from it. "Why hadn't you called to inform me?" This time, concern was hinted heavily.

"Erh... My battery went flat...?" Yuuichi scowled at his brother. He knew that Ryuuichi was somehow saying the truth, but he didn't answer fully. He, for once, wanted the truth so badly. He had not just went through a nerve-wreaking day for worrying his brother just to get this kind of answers. Though, if Ryuuichi hadn't want to say it...

Ryuuichi was suddenly punched in the stomach. So hard that he couldn't breathe for a moment and he swore that he would get bruised at that spot. Then, he was pulled into a tight embrace. "Perhaps I should put shackles on you next time...." Yuuichi murmured. Ryuuichi sweated, but smiled nonetheless. He returned the embrace with similar strength.

"Please don't"

Lastly, Ryuuichi was lectured for almost 3 hours by his dear sweet brother.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

"Right. If you guys decided to appear now, please do because I rather not get surprised again." Ryuuichi said as he looked through his wet bangs at the mirror. His hands were on the sink. He peered at his back when seven flames appeared. He raised an eyebrow, wondering why the rest would appear too.

He turned around and leaned against the sink, arms crossed as he looked at the First Generation, focusing on Giotto and Alaude. The two man exchanged looks before Alaude nodded, stepping forward. Ryuuichi stood straighter and dropped his arms.

"Shiroki Ryuuichi. You've passed my test.  _I, Alaude, accept Shiroki Ryuuichi_." He glowed, one of the last two rectangles on his ring turned into purple. For some reason, the feeling that surged through him were different. For some reason, he felt like crying. A nagging yet numb pain, along with nostalgia coursed through him. When everything stopped, he gave Alaude a disbelief look, but the man held nothing on his.

"Shiroki Ryuuichi" He softly gaped a little before turning to Giotto, forcing himself to take his eyes off Alaude. "Y-yes?" Giotto gave him a small smile, before turning serious. "Do you have the resolve to hold the responsibility?"

"...Pardon?"

"Yes, or no?" Ryuuichi frowned. He hadn't had the slightest idea whatever Giotto was talking about. Hell, how was he supposed to answer the question? Though, there was this feeling. It was like he understood it in his heart, but not his mind. That, was something he definitely not like.

".. Yes.. I suppose?" He blurted out. There were doubt in his voice, but Giotto nodded. Ryuuichi, although had doubts and all, is still the most suitable person for this. Even the rest agreed. During the time they had observed him along with the Tenth Generation, he had shown a lot of potentials and there were still more hidden. His unwavering trust to his friends and family were strong as he held onto his principle. (And a tad bit too stubborn) It was more than enough reason for them to accept him. Not to mention that he's...

Giotto raised his hands up. " _I, Giotto, accept Shiroki Ryuuichi_ " He glowed again, and the rectangles were completed after the last one turned into orange. " _With this, the seal is to be removed_ "

Suddenly, they were all in this darkness, void to be exact while Ryuuichi gasped. He felt as though something were about to break through him. It pained slightly, but it was more suffocating. His back, on the other hand, burned. He winced as he tried to push the pain down, but failed miserably. His hands curled up into fists. He bit into his inner cheeks to muffle his exclamation of pain. Nope. He's definitely not gonna scream.

After what seems like hours, it finally subsided. He felt so tired. He panted a little, feeling his legs turned into jelly. He almost fell down if not for Alaude grabbing him and holding him upwards.

"R-right... What.. Just happened?"

Giotto chuckled softly, while the others one way or another snorted. "Your seal had just been removed, duh" Lampo rolled his eyes, but a smile was on his face. Ryuuichi didn't mind that. He didn't mind it at all. He muttered a thanks to Alaude before standing properly by himself. "So... Would you explain everything now?"

There was a paused as they all exchanged look. Ryuuichi felt slightly disappointed when Giotto apologized to him. "I'm afraid that we won't be the one who will do the explaining"

"But-..." Ryuuichi's voice faltered as his lips closed tightly. It didn't make any sense at all. If they weren't the one who will answer him, who else? They are basically the only ones who knew about his secrets. He frowned. 'Does this means that there's another person...?'

" _He_ 'll answer you soon. Don't worry. For now, rest and wait patiently"

' _We wish you good luck for the upcoming challenges_ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> END OF THE INHERITANCE SUCCESSION ARCCCCCCCC!!! Next will be the Future Final Battle Arc!! 
> 
> I'm not exactly satisfied with the ending of this chapter, but I absolutely have no more idea.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi was 'bitten to death' by a certain prefect after Yuuichi's lecture. Like, Hibari appeared out of nowhere right after Yuuichi's last word, tonfa out and ready to kill. Okay not really.
> 
> Fun Fact= Yuuichi was quite serious that he wanted to invest on shackles and tracker to place on Ryuuichi. Fortunately, Ryuuichi managed to talk him out of it. (Beg)
> 
> Ryuuichi had just finished showering and all when he felt the First Generation's presence. He was so done with their sudden appearances that he just called out to them.
> 
> The twins are about the same height, so yeah. And to those who doesn't know what Kabe-don is, I suggest you check up on it *snickers*
> 
> Honestly, I was running out of idea on this chapter. *groan*
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	38. Hide and Seek

The next morning, Ryuuichi forced himself to wake up early. He silently sneaked out of his house, trying not to wake Yuuichi up or anything. He had left a note on his computer table just in case Yuuichi woke up early, saying that he went to Hibari's house for a spar. It was quite a weird excuse and it would definitely rile up suspicion from Yuuichi, seeing that he usually never really like sparring. Especially with Hibari. But, it would do for now.

Just before he left for Namimori Shrine, he took off his ring and hung it on the chain around his neck. He murmured an 'I'll be back' and hurried off. Halfway there, he had stumbled upon Hibari, which somehow ended up with him being chased up the stairs of Namimori Shrine by the prefect. Apparently Hibari was still pissed off at him and had to release the steam. (He was the cause of Hibari's anger anyway)

After a while, the rest started arriving, with Tsuna, Reborn, Yuni and the children last. "Everyone.... Let's go"

\---------------------------------------------------------

When they went back to the future, they were all immediately ushered to rest. Only 10 minutes had passed since they went back to their rightful era for the inheritance succession so it was still night. That, and for them to recharge for the upcoming battle. Instead of going back to his room, Ryuuichi followed Hibari to Namimori Middle School. Before he did so, he had gathered his weapon, namely the metal bow and gun, and extra rings from his room before following.

Tsuna and the others didn't know, but then again, perhaps Reborn noticed. When Dino appeared, he somehow jumped onto the man, which irked Hibari, which led into another fight between Dino and the prefect. While that happened, Ryuuichi was snickering on the sideline, watching them fight until he deemed it was enough for them before he intervened.

It was quite peaceful afterwards, but it didn't last long. They looked to the mountains, where they had last seen the Teleportation System disappeared and sensed something. They stared at it for awhile before it appeared again. It looked like it would blew up anytime soon with the electric current buzzing brightly like that. And it did, but not after 7 streams of light spread out, one had went to their direction.

Ryuuichi couldn't stop his grin, knowing that the battle between the Real Funeral Wreath and Hibari would begun sooner or later. He turned on his transmitter and could clearly hear the havoc that was happening back at the base. And then, a loud explosion. He winced at that before lowering the volume slightly. 'It seems like Zakuro's there already'

It was plain chaos there as Tsuna and the others scrambled out of the base with Squalo holding Zakuro back. Of course, Squalo had lost, to their horror but they had no choice but to run away and hide. When Haru suggested Kawahira Realtor, his eyes narrowed a little before relaxing. Kawahira wouldn't do anything to them at this moment but lend a helping hand. It would definitely be okay.

At the same time, he, along with Hibari and Dino, saw Daisy down at the court yard. Dino immediately fought with him with his whip. "Well? You should have realized that you can't win. Will you surrender?" Dino said as he landed on his feet with a smirk. Daisy, who was thrown onto his back sat up.

"I-I-I want to know where Yuni-sama is. I'll forgive you if you 'fess up! 'Fess up!" He lit up his Mare ring and opened his box weapon. A Rhinoceros with sun flame flaring from his ears appeared. "Rinoceronte del Sereno!" The Rhinoceros rushed forward towards Dino, going to attack the man when Dino himself opened his own box weapon. "Gallop, Scuderia!"

Ryuuichi whistled in amazement at the horse with bright blonde mane and tail and sky flames on the hooves. "Cavallo Alato!" Although, he must say, the names are a tad bit strange. 'Winged horse..?' Nevertheless, the box weapon is a beauty. The horse attacked the Rhino. It stepped on the Rhino's head, the sky flame pulsing before the Rhino turned into stone, paralyzed. A ball of spike suddenly hit the stoned Rhino, breaking it into pieces.

Ryuuichi turned to look at Hibari and wasn't surprised to see Hibari standing of the fence. Nope, he wasn't surprised at all. Though, he couldn't help but sweat a little when the prefect jumped down and landed on his feet perfectly. Perhaps it was because Ryuuichi has this thing with jumping down from a three story high building. Or any building in fact. 'Then again, I did fell off a cliff once......' Okay perhaps that was unnecessary...

He pushed away that thought and hurried downstairs, decided to just jump out of the window of the second floor instead. And he did, landing on his feet whilst stumbling a little. Romario, who was standing beside him, helped him to steady himself a little. ("Thanks") He focused on the Real Funeral Wreath who creepily stood up, demanding them to tell him where Yuni is. 'Speaking of her... I haven't talked to her yet...'

"Going on us? You sure talk big"

"But it's the truth! I barely used any of my power. I noticed it during Choice, but... You Vongola are too weak" That triggered a button. Ryuuichi, on the other hand, had a deadpan face. He tilted his head slightly as he stared at Daisy with half lidded eyes. He was fine with that. Okay maybe just a little. But he didn't exactly care, letting Daisy run his mouth like that, that is. After all, they would know who is the stronger one in a few more.

"I'm out of boxes, so I'll be the first to use this power... But this will be the first and last time you witness an Open Carnage Box" Kusakabe and Romario made a questioning sound. They hadn't had a clue what the heck was Open Carnage Box was, and felt as though it was a bad thing. 'It is...'

"Byakuran-sama said that we, the Real Funeral Wreaths, are superhuman!" Daisy tore open his shirt as Dino and Hibari's eyes widen. Ryuuichi cringed at that sight, feeling the urge to scrap it out and.. He rather not. There was a box embedded onto his left chest, probably near the heart. He didn't like it at all. It kind of disgusted him for some reason and he all but want to just fix it. How, he didn't know but he definitely do not want to see that.

"Where's Yuni-sama?" Daisy had a creepy, crazy grin on as he lit up his ring and injected it into the box on his chest. A bright yellow light that grew larger and larger surrounded Daisy as the ground started to rumble. A small tornado was create, wind blasting onto their face. They tried to hold on as the strong wind blew.

"What's going to come out?!"

"A dang Lizard" Ryuuichi grumbled, but Kusakabe heard it nonetheless. He gritted his teeth and covered his eyes, blocking the dust from blowing into his eyes. In the midst of the flying dust, they saw yellow flames flaring.

"'Fess up!" Daisy's voice sounded more calmer, and more matured. His curly green hair stood up, his arms and leg were green with scales on it. There was a Milliefiore crest on the spot where the box was, eyes slit and Sun Flame flaring from his arm. "Where are you hiding Yuni-sama?"

Kusakabe and Romario was freaking out at his sudden change of appearance as Daisy explained Open Carnage Box. Suddenly, Dino and Ryuuichi heard Tsuna's voice through their transmitter. The blonde explained that Daisy was with them, calling Daisy a monster. "What about you? Is Yuni safe?" Tsuna too explained their condition there, which surprised Dino and Hibari (Though the prefect didn't show it, he did twitched a little) about Squalo. Dino was about to say something when Daisy interfered.

"So you're talking with your buddies" Daisy's flame was pulsing, flaring and all, clearly powerful. "Yuni-sama must be with them, huh? Where is she?" He flew towards Dino, who jumped away to avoid him. He was fast, but not as fast as Hibari or Reborn, Ryuuichi would say.

Dino had Scuderia out again, but with flaming wings which would paralyze anything that was touched upon it, as Romario had somehow explained proudly. Scuderia's wings cut off Daisy's arm as they made contact, but the severed arm wrapped around him. Daisy regenerated his arms and rushed towards Dino.

Ryuuichi had a mild headache when Dino's whip coated with Sky flame started hitting here and there, and closed his eyes. It was an awesome move, but it confuses him when seen personally. Not to mention it hurt his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Daisy moving at a fast speed, avoiding the whips. Daisy knew about it, and had somehow memorized where would the whip go.

'Of course, Byakuran was the one who informed him..'

Daisy managed to reach Dino and punched him in the guts. He grabbed Dino's chin and pulled it upwards to meet him in the eyes. Just as he was about to punch him, Hibari had hit him and thrown him to the wall, cracking it. Ryuuichi watched as Daisy hit the wall before looking back at Dino who was face flat on the ground. Not literally.

"Excuse me. Could you not make a mess of Nami Middle? I need to punish you." And the prefect kicked Dino towards their direction, much to Kusakabe and Romario's dismay. Ryuuichi managed to grab Dino before he hit the floor, but fell onto his back as well. He frowned a little upon the man's bruises. Though, Dino owned Hibari one. The prefect had, after all, saved him.

"I guess he does resemble the First Generation Guardian. The First Generation Guardian of the Cloud Ring was the leader of a nation's intelligence bureau. He welcome no one and preferred to be alone. He never stood with the family either. But whenever Vongola Primo's idea of justice coincided with his, he defeated more enemies and showed more kindness than any other" The youngest blinked at that. He had a feeling that wasn't all, but it should be. He briefly wondered why but had his focus on Hibari again.

"Let's do this, Roll. Cambio Forma" The hedgehog made a sound, before it glowed in bright purple, slowly descend onto Hibari's finger. A black handcuffs with Cloud flame appeared after the bright light dispersed. "A relic of the aloof, unfettered cloud who walked his own path.. Alaude's handcuffs"

\---------------------------------------------------------

"I don't need this"

"You've thrown away your weapon. You have no offensive power now. What can you possibly do with those handcuffs?" Daisy mocked. 'A lot, apparently...' Ryuuichi shuddered when he suddenly remembered Yuuichi's words. "It's too bad, but your Vongola box is a poor match for my power. Give up and just tell me where Yuni-sama is"

"I don't need my tonfas." Hibari said, throwing Daisy off guard a little. He was spinning his handcuffs, which somehow is a pair. "If that's all you got, I don't need my tonfas. You are under arrest for destroying school property." The handcuffs multiplied into four pairs, shocking them except for Ryuuichi. (He was busy squealing internally at the sight under his poker face.)

"That's an interesting trick. But more handcuffs aren't going to do anything to me!"Daisy rushed forward and punched at a high speed, faster than before. Hibari, on the other hand, was unfazed as he dodged each move with great ease. The prefect narrowed his eyes, and cuffed both Daisy's hands.

"It's no use. The same thing will happen every time you handcuff me"

"I agree. If I'm only using ten or twenty of them" Hibari's ring glowed and the handcuffs on Daisy's hand multiplied at a high speed. Daisy was too slow, he couldn't detach his limbs before he was cuffed. And, he was absolutely cuffed, shackled, whatever suits his current condition. Three long chains were attached onto the one on his neck, his hands and his legs, all of them were held by Hibari.

"Caught you" Hibari's cloud factor's propagation was acting faster than Daisy's lizard tail technique. Though, it was quite surprising to see the results like this, according to Dino. Though, Ryuuichi wasn't exactly surprised. He had a feeling that if one has a strong as a bull resolve, or in Hibari's case, pissed off to the point of burning hell fire, the faster one's flame factor works. A hunch, he would say, though there weren't any prove to his point so he didn't say anything.

"I-I wasn't told about this!"

"You seemed like you want to die, but I won't let you off so easily. I'll crush you" Hibari pulled the chain as the cuff tighten around Daisy, crushing him as the prefect had declared. Somehow, that last sentence from him had reminded Ryuuichi of a certain purple haired teen slash titan from another anime.

They watched in slight horror (and glee) as Daisy suffered. He kept calling out for Byakuran-sama, which proved to Dino that Byakuran doesn't know how to defeat the Vongola Box as it hadn't exist in other parallel worlds. And, Daisy was choked to death and he fell onto the ground. 

"You're more pathetic than I expected. You can't die even if you want to because of the active factor in the Sun flame within your body." Hibari walked forward to the fallen Real Funeral Wreath and took the Mare Ring, which turned colorless the moment it left Daisy's finger. "The disciplinary committee will be confiscating this"

Daisy grunted in pain, before everything stopped. He had lost (and died). Apparently, the Real Funeral Wreath are merely normal human beings if their rings were taken away. How expectedly unexpected. Not.

"Daisy, your mistake was destroying school property. That set off Kyouya." "And his greatest one, underestimating Hibari and the Vongola and you, Dino" Ryuuichi snorted.

\---------------------------------------------------------

"Hold still dammit" Ryuuichi grumbled as he lit up his Sun flame, trying to heal Hibari. He had just finished with Dino and was going to heal Hibari too but the prefect was stubborn, insisting that he was alright when he, in fact, isn't. Probably yes, if compared to when he was beaten by Mukuro, but that shan't be said out loud or else a tonfa shall start a death chase.

"I don't need it" Hibari, too, grumbled, glaring at the younger as he tried to move away. Ryuuichi, annoyed at that, said in a deadpan but dripping with venom voice. "If you don't, I'll strip you down bare in front of Kusakabe, Romario and Dino" Oh he would definitely do it. Hibari stiffen a little, and complied.

Ryuuichi nodded, and helped him out of his shirt to look at the bruise the prefect definitely had on his body. They were in another room beside the reception room where Ryuuichi had dragged him into, seeing that he was stubborn. (Unlike Dino, who blushed but did as told and took off his shirt in front of the others)

He glanced at Hibari's front, which there weren't anything before moving to sit behind him. It definitely was bruised, caused when Hibari was thrown back and cracked the freaking wall of the freaking school building. Ryuuichi winced at that and place his hands on the spot. His sun ring glowed as he started healing the prefect.

He then noticed that Hibari was a tad bit tensed for some reason. He raised an eyebrow and asked. "Is everything alright?" A grunt was his answer, but Ryuuichi wasn't satisfied with the answer.

(If only he knew why Hibari was tensed. Like, the prefect was half naked in front of him and he was like nonchalantly ignoring the fact. Either he was ignoring it, or he didn't realize, Hibari didn't know. But it still doesn't cover that he was half naked in front of him.)

"Uhhhum.." He applied pressure, making Hibari sat up straighter. Hibari turned his head to him and glared at him. He returned a deadpanned stare before having his attention back onto the bruise, which had disappeared mostly. After a while, when he deemed it was healed, he stopped. Nodding at that, he stood up, giving Hibari a pat on the shoulder while doing so.

"That should do it" Just as he was about to left the room to give Hibari some privacy, he was pulled back and into the prefect's arms. It was at that moment when he realized it. He fought off the urge to blush and tried to push Hibari away. "W-hat the hell--" To no avail.

"Hibari- Let me go-" Instead of doing as told, Hibari tighten his vice grip and stared at Ryuuichi in the eyes. This time, Ryuuichi did blushed. His face to his ears to his neck were red. He didn't even need a mirror to see how red he was. A sudden burst of strength managed to push Hibari away and he quickly scrambled out of the room, but not before turning around and stuck his tongue out at Hibari. And the door was slammed.

Hibari, still sitting on the sofa, blinked at that. A moment later, he chuckled in amusement at that. Ryuuichi was quite cute. Not to mention it was quite hilarious seeing the younger taken off guard and all. Honestly, how could someone so sharp could be so dense was something the prefect doesn't know.

Ryuuichi slammed the door shut and heaved. That, does no good to his heart at all. He took deep breathe, gradually calmed his breathing and the redness subsided. He thought that he was used to the random pulling and all from Hibari (and Dino) but that was just simply... (Not word could describe how he felt at that moment. None but, flustered) He not so calmly walked into the reception room where Romario, Kusakabe and Dino are after deeming he had calmed down.

Dino turned to him when he walked in and raised an eyebrow at how out of it Ryuuichi was. "Ryuuichi? Did something happened?" Ryuuichi blinked for a moment, before blushing lightly again as he remembered the scene just now. He clicked his tongue and huffed, walking towards Kusakabe and sat beside him, right opposite of Dino and Romario. "Nothing" His voice were filled with annoyance that had Dino wincing slightly.

Kusakabe and Romario exchanged a look, somewhat could guess it. Dino, on the other hand, didn't. He tried to persuade the teen to say it but was answered with a venomous 'shut up' that had his mouth snapped shut immediately. Though, there weren't much heat in it.

"Really, it was quite hard to believe that you would turn into your older self..." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at Romario's word while Kusakabe nodded in agreement. "What?" Romario chuckled as Kusakabe explained. "Your older self was more.. Enigmatic. He was more mysterious and silent than you are. And more sadistic. Even we don't know how your older self managed to get Vindice on his side"

"Though, your older self was a reliable and trustworthy ally and friend. And a family, of course." Ryuuichi blinked at that. It was, a bit confusing, knowing that they were talking about him yet it wasn't about him. He could somehow understand the 'how did he turned into his older self part' seeing that his older self was probably (and is) more of a weirdo than he currently is, but it still doesn't enlighten him what they were talking about the slightest.

"Speaking of which, how did you know that Daisy would transformed into a lizard?" Romario asked. Ryuuichi tensed at that slightly, wondering how was he going to answer that. "Umm... Hunch?" Of course it wasn't a hunch! Ryuuichi wanted to palm his face so hard that it might bruise at his own idiocy but refrained himself from doing so. He quickly changed the topic when he saw the suspicion from them. "How are my parents and my brother doing?" He narrowed his eyes at that flinch all of them had.

"T-they are alright. Safe from danger" Dino answered. He was about to say something when Romario suddenly started searching for something from his suit.

"Ryuuichi, here" Romario called out and tossed a small box of, dried cranberries..? Ryuuichi gave him a bewildered look while the others simply smiled at that. "A gift" He nodded slowly, looking at the box. "Uh.. Thank you.. But why so suddenly?" Romario laughed at that.

"Well, your older self likes to eat it, and tend to have at least one with him everytime he's out." There was a small mischievous smirk on Romario's face. "I think you might need it, seeing that  _something_  just happened"

Realization dawned Ryuuichi at what Romario was implying and groaned loudly, flopping back on the sofa's back rest, wanting to melt into it. "Oh god, please, shut up--" Romario and Kusakabe laughed at his reaction, while Dino simply sat there, puzzled. And then, the door slammed open. "What is going on?" Hibari, in his shirt and his gakuran hanging on his shoulder, appeared, arms crossed.

Ryuuichi looked at him with narrowed eyes and groaned even louder. "Please go slam face first at the wall." Romario and Kusakabe laughed even harder.

(The whole time, Dino remained out of the loop even when he tried to tell Romario to elaborate what the hell was going on, but the older simply laughed even harder, much to both Ryuuchi and his dismay. If only Dino knew...)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay the last part was a tad bit unexpected..... BUT WHATEVER! THE FIRST CHAPTER OF FUTURE FINAL BATTLE ARC!!
> 
> Ryuuichi had his transmitter on the whole time to listen to whatever was happening on Tsuna's side, but muted his own microphone on the transmitter. Though, he might suffer hearing problem for a while at all the shouting and explosions and all.
> 
> I think I somehow managed to make Hibari a tad bit out of character....
> 
> Fun fact= Dino had asked Ryuuichi why he didn't attack Daisy or did anything, the teen answered with a deadpan voice and eyes. "If I did, the whole school might burn down" Dino then sweated at that, understanding what the teen meant.
> 
> Fun Fact= TYL Ryuuichi, Hibari and Dino tend to hang out very frequently. Both for work, and not for work. Kusakabe and Romario would sometimes tag along (Especially if it's for work). TYL Ryuuichi could frequently be seen with Reborn too.
> 
> Fun Fact= TYL Ryuuichi is a sadist courtesy of *ahem* Reborn.
> 
> There won't be much chapters in this arc, but there definitely will be one where Ryuuichi will get his answers as the main part and all of them going back to the past as the minor one. I think.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	39. Yuni

Right after they had rested for awhile, they had decided to go to the Vongola Base to find Squalo, and possibly Yamamoto, Bianchi, Giannini and Spanner. It was practically a mess when they arrived. There were burn marks on the wall and celling, a few of them crumbled down. Ryuuichi could still feel the aftermath of the heat and huffed. He never really like hot weather or condition. In addition to the humidity down here, it was quite bad.

He coughed a little as they went through one of the holes, trying find Squalo. This would definitely be one hell of a repair once everything ends. Well, at least he wouldn't be the one who would be repairing it. He was lingering behind of the others, looking around while covering his nose and mouth from the dust when he heard a voice and some shuffling. He stopped his track, unknown to them, and looked towards his left.

He blinked when he saw shadows. "Hello?" He called out. He walked towards the shadows direction and squinted his eyes, trying to focus in the dark. His sight gotten clearer as he moved closer, only to paused in mid step, eyes widen. "Yamamoto! Squalo!" He rushed to them after calling out loudly at the others, who presumably had walked the other way.

"R-ryuu?" Yamamoto was surprised to see the said teen rushing towards him and Squalo. He had just found the man not long ago when Ryuuichi appeared from the other side. Ryuuichi nodded at him and started inspecting Squalo. Behind him, footsteps of several people were heard before Dino, Romario, Kusakabe and Hibari appeared.

"Wha-" "Shut up and heal him"

\-------------------------------------------------------

"Let's see...." Ryuuichi looked around, trying to find the spot where they had gathered. Seeing that the sun has already set, there should be a fire. Fortunately, the forest was dark enough to spot any source of light even from far. 'Ah then again, they're like, surrounded by higher grounds.....'

He sighed, in both exhaustion and troubled. He had just help a tiny bit on healing Squalo, but not fully. (He let the others finish the rest) He did healed both Dino and Hibari in the morning at the same time after all. After that, he had straight ran out to join Tsuna and the others, and somehow got lost in the process. The forest was too thick and not to mention it was dark.

He walked deeper into the forest, searching for a while more until he noticed he was more lost than he was before. Although he had a good sense of direction, to navigate in this dark condition was not a good thing. He huffed, wondering what should he do. He blinked when he felt one of his box weapons that were chained on his belt moved. He had almost forgotten them. He looked down and saw the Cloud and Sun box weapon moving. He sweated a little. 'Did I... brought them back to the past and to the future without even realizing they were with me all this time...?'

He undid the chain and took the box weapon to his eye level. It really was moving. And then, an idea came to him. He took out his ring from the chain around his neck and wore it, lit it up in both Sun and Cloud flame. He whistled lowly at the combination before inject the flame into the box.

The box glowed for a moment, before two streams of flames were shot out, one purple and the other yellow. A black panther and a white panther appeared. Both had different attribute of flames at the tip of their tail. The black one has Cloud flame, while the white one has Sun flame. Cubs.

Ryuuichi crouched down to their level, stroking both of them. The black one somehow purred a little while the white one leaned into his hands. He chuckled. "Kuro" The black one looked at him with grey eyes. "Shiro" The white one mewed (growled?) in acknowledgement. He smiled softly. "Please help me find the fire. There will be other people too. More than 10 of them, actually." They growled in unison and started to lead him away to another direction.

As they ran, the cubs would occasionally slow down for him to catch up before speeding away again. While running after them, he remembered the first time he opened the box. Perhaps it was because he only injected Cloud flames it, but Shiro was sluggish and weak. Kuro, on the other hand, stayed with his brother the whole time, growling at Ryuuichi. He even scratched Ryuuichi's hand when he wanted to pet him and Shiro.

This time, was the second time he had opened his box weapon. Kuro was tamer, and Shiro was more stronger and active. It dawned him that the cubs stabilize each other, which explained why Kuro was fiercer to him at that time. Though, they are absolutely adorable. That was one thing Ryuuichi could never deny about.

Suddenly, the cubs came to a stop on a cliff. He suddenly felt murderous aura and several growls from animals. As he walked out from the trees and saw the rest down at the bottom of a small cliff that surrounds them. He felt relief that they had found the others. "Ryuuichi!" "Who are you!" He turned towards Gamma, who was tensed and all. He blinked, and gave the man a smile. He jumped down from the cliff, landing perfectly on his feet, the cubs following. (At least it wasn't that high up)

Kuro and Shiro was tensed when they felt a little surrounded by the rest of the box animals they hadn't met. Ryuuichi noticed, of course, and gave them a reassuring look. They relaxed a little, but was still on guard. Ryuuichi then turned towards Gamma and his brothers. They, were the only ones he hadn't met so it was not strange for to see them that guarded around him. (Unknown to him, his older self had already met with Gamma once.)

He bowed. "I believe that we hadn't met. I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi."

Gamma frowned. He had heard the name before, fleetingly. Though, it wasn't uncommon to hear it. Apparently, Shiroki Ryuuichi had gained a reputation that could be on par with the Arcobaleno just in a few years time. Not much knew who this person really is, and some had said that this person doesn't exist. Gamma, too, didn't exactly believed in this person's existence, until now, that is. But, the teen that bowed in front of them right now seemed so familiar. And young.

"... You're-!" Gamma's eyes widen. He remembered. When he had clashed with Hibari Kyouya, another man that looked like this teen were there. The exact person who reminded him of Yuni.

Ryuuichi tilted his head in questioning, but let it rest. Gamma seemed to have gained a turmoil, while Tsuna explained who he was to Nozaru and Tazaru.

"Oh, right. Where were you, Ryuuichi?" Tsuna asked, catching the said teen's attention. Ryuuichi turned to him before moving towards him, sitting in between Yuni and Tsuna. The cubs immediately jumped onto his laps.

"Hmm.. With Hibari and Dino" He looked around, at the rest. They were somewhat looking at his direction, so he gave them a sheepish smile. He then turned to Yuni, staring directly into her eyes. "Ryuuichi" He turned towards Reborn and slightly tilted his head.

Reborn observed the teen for awhile. There's something about Ryuuichi that had changed since they came back to the future. He didn't know what it was, but there was a change. Though, it wasn't very obvious so the others didn't realized it. That, and the way Ryuuichi simply sitting down beside Yuni and the look in his eyes when he and she made eye contact. There was something about the look, but Reborn didn't know what. "... No. Nothing"

Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at that. It wasn't everyday to see the hitman to call out to someone and say it was nothing. He wondered what Reborn wanted to say, but there wasn't a logical one on his mind. He tried asking though, but before he managed to do it, Reborn walked away with Gamma, for a talk. He watched as they disappear into the trees while frowning. He didn't know why, but he didn't like the look on Reborn's face when he looked at him.

He pondered for a few moment, before looking back at the cubs on his lap. They were growling at Uri, who was growling at them too. "Kuro. Shiro. Be calm down" He looked at Uri, and held out a hand, coaxing it to come near him. Uri reluctantly, slowly walked to his hands and sniffed, before licking it. Ryuuichi took it as a green light and pet Uri.

A moment soon, he noticed Natsu peering at him behind Tsuna. He chuckled a little, before picking up Uri up and set her on his lap. He then turned to Natsu again. "Come here" He tried to coax the lion cub too, holding Uri just in case she decided to jump at Natsu again. Natsu looked at him with doubt, and then to Uri, who was glaring but didn't do anything, and then to Tsuna.

Tsuna blinked. It was quite surprising to see Ryuuichi managed to tame the cat that easily. He didn't knew that Ryuuichi was so good with animal. Then again, he didn't knew much about him anyway. The brunette nodded at Natsu reassuringly. Natsu, seeing his nod, slowly moved closer to Ryuuichi, wary of the cat.

Ryuuichi smiled and petted the lion cub. He then pick him up and set him on his lap too. Uri snarled a little, but stayed put. As Ryuuichi watched them and Kuro and Shiro on his lap, despite the weight, was internally squealing. They were all absolutely adorable and he had this urge to just squeeze them and- Okay he won't. But they are still adorable.

The rest silently watched. The could clearly see the teen being overwhelmed by the box animals. Though, they got to admit. It was an adorable sight. (Along with Ryuuichi in)

Ryuuichi finally remembered something, and picked them off his lap much to their dismay and set them on Tsuna's instead. (The brunette panicked. Oh he panicked. If someone has any camera at the moment, they would absolutely want to film it) He smiled sheepishly at Yuni, and asked if they could have a talk for a moment.

\-------------------------------------------------------

"Ano.. Shiroki-san" Yuni, although hadn't exactly talked to Ryuuichi or knew much about Ryuuichi, could somehow guessed what he wanted to talk about. Perhaps that's why he brought her further away from the rest. She had heard of him before, from Byakuran. He was blabbering that time, about how interesting Ryuuichi is. About how Ryuuichi seemed so incapable yet is actually capable to crush Byakuran if he wanted to. About how Ryuuichi seemed to have the same ability as Byakuran has, yet he actually don't. It was as if Ryuuichi knows more than Byakuran do, and it sparked absolute curiosity in the man. (Oh how Byakuran wanted to get his hands on Ryuuichi and force him to spill everything)

On the other hand, she herself had seen him in action once. Not directly, but she did. She was entranced by him for a moment. His fight was like a dance of sort. Though surrounded from all sides, Ryuuichi was swift and fast as he broke through a troop of men, with only a gun in hand. Instead of the usual dread she would feel when she saw people being killed, she felt the condolences and respect from Ryuuichi as he ended their lives. It was, in no other words, fascinating.

At first, she imagined him as someone who was silent and mysterious, the next, kind and collected. Now, she knew that he was all she had expected, but more so than that. In addition, her short dreams of him had made him more than a mere person.

Ryuuichi turned to her sideways before sitting down on the ground when he deemed it was far enough for the rest to not eavesdrop their conversation. He briefly swept the log he leaned on and pat on it, asking her to sit down too. And she did, muttering a thanks. He returned a smile before looking off at a distance. They sat in a short moment of silence before Yuni decided to break it.

"Shiroki-san-" "Ryuuichi is fine, Yuni" The said girl nodded. "Then, Ryuuichi-san. What is it that you wanted to talk about?" It sounded a bit harsh despite the soft tone she was using, but Ryuuichi didn't care. He don't mind the straightforwardness of the girl. Hell, he even liked it.

Instead of answering, he turned to look into her eyes again. Her blue eyes met his dark brown ones. "What do you know about me?" He said softly and slowly, not smiling at all. He was serious and solemn as well.

Yuni blinked at the slightly unexpected question. She opened her mouth once, before closing it. "... I don't really know the details but.. You weren't originally from here" Ryuuichi nodded, breaking off the eye contact and chuckled, staring up at the night sky.

"I won't say that you are exactly correct, but I can't say you're wrong either" He looked a bit thoughtful for a moment. "I haven't gotten my answers, but..."

"I'm not from this world" Yuni blinked at that, eyes widening slightly. "Well, not exactly... How should I explain this.. To put in short, I've being born twice and I still have my memories from my past life. And in my past life, this world, doesn't exist. This world exist as an anime."

Yuni found this absolutely weird. It was weird to hear that their world exist as an anime. That they exist as fictional characters when they're actual humans in this world. "Sounded unbelievable, no? I didn't believed it at first, but then, Namimori didn't exist on the map in my previous world, and that I saw Yamamoto and his father for the first time. It was quite surprising, to be honest. I never really expect myself to sleep and then wake up the next day to find that I'm in another world that shouldn't even exist, and as an infant once again"

"I've no idea why, though. I don't know why I'm here, and if I did died, why do I still remember my memories. Honestly, everything was just so confusing. I was lost the first few years of my life here. I still am, now. But... I'm reaching my answers. I don't know how am I going to get it, but I'm getting to it."

He chuckled wryly at that. Finding it a tad bit ironic despite coming out from his own mouth. "Though, everything is the same as I've known. Every single event here happened chronologically. The exact same thing happened."

"So- You knew about what's going to happen, and the results?" Yuni was surprised, and glad. Surprised that he knew what exactly would happen, and glad that if Ryuuichi wasn't doing anything, that meant there wasn't much to worry about. And then, she felt sad. "And about me, too?"

Ryuuichi nodded, playing with a stick he had found lying on the ground. "Yeah" He murmured. Yuni smiled sadly. She would definitely die, then. But.. If it's for the better future, she will accept her fate. "Are you afraid?" She nodded.

"Why?"

Yuni frowned, wondering why Ryuuichi would ask this kind of question. "Because I'm going to die" 'I'll cease to exist.. And forgotten' Ryuuichi looked up at her for a brief moment, before drifted his gaze to the sky again. He could clearly hear the unsaid words. "You know, even if one passes, they will always be remembered by this universe. Their existence shall be written permanently."

"And, you aren't going to die. True, you will be passing in this world, but you wouldn't die. You'll always drift and live once again. It's the cycle. No theory proven, but it's worth believing. And you won't be alone" Ryuuichi hinted, but said nothing otherwise. Yuni got the message, and didn't asked for it. She knew that if one knows what will happen, it shall be a secret until what will happens happened.

".... Why are you telling me this, Ryuuichi-san?"

"Because I believe that you'll help me keep this secret. It's hard to keep a secret and it's a miracle that I've managed to keep it for so long. So, Yuni. Can you keep this a secret until I find my answers?"

Yuni smiled. "Un!"

"By the way, Ryuuichi-san. Can you tell me more about yourself?" Ryuuichi laughed. "Sure. Hmm.. I was sixteen when I've 'died' from my previous world, on the exact day I was born there, and on the exact day I was born here. So you can say that I'm mentally an adult. I used to have an older sister, but a younger twin brother now. Oh, did I mentioned that I was a she?"

\-------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi laid on the ground, one arm under his head, supporting it while the other on top of his torso. He was thinking about his talk with Yuni. There was a small weight being lifted after that. It was refreshing and unnerving at the same time. Honestly, he hadn't knew why would he wanted to spill everything to Yuni, but he did. It felt nice.

He remembered her reassuring her that everything will be alright. He also remembered telling her about his encounter with Vongola Primo and his guardian. He answered all her question, and revealed quite a lot of things, but there were much more he didn't said. So much more that he had hidden inside. Nevertheless, he felt quite happy, although tired.

Yuni, on the other hand, was like a curious little girl. Instead of the mature one as the boss of a familgia, she was a normal teenage girl as he chatted with her. She can be quite childish too, but Ryuuichi wouldn't want her to be any different.

Personally, he thought Yuni had matured a bit too early. If she wasn't the daughter of a mafia boss, perhaps she would be like Kyoko and Haru. Perhaps if she's just a normal girl, she might be happier. But that was all 'if's and 'perhaps'. He isn't Yuni. He doesn't know what the girl wants, or what her true desire is. He practically doesn't have any say on her life. Still, he hopes for her happiness, and always will. (For some reason, felt as though Yuni was a younger sister to him, even though they weren't close)

Ryuuichi closed his eyes. He should get some rest before the dawn breaks. Before the final battle starts.

\-------------------------------------------------------

_"The gathering of the four skies,  
Shall begin"_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehhhh
> 
> Honestly? I've absolutely no idea what was I doing in this chapter except for the Ryuuichi revealing to Yuni part. Yeah.
> 
> Ryuuichi won't be using his box weapon much, but I'll still reveal them. Well, the first one's out. As for the other box... Well, will be out soon.
> 
> Yuni had fleeting dreams about Ryuuichi, just as Aria did. Though, they were exactly different dreams.
> 
> Yuni had seen TYL Ryuuichi in action through a spy camera from her subordinates when she was still the Milliefiore's Black Spell's boss.
> 
> The last one, I reused the quote from TYL Ryuuichi on chapter 17.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi had developed a soft spot for Yuni. Yuuichi might be jealous~ XDD
> 
> The next chapter will be when all the action happens. 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	40. Future's Final Battle, Begin

"There was an explosion on the other side?" Ryuuichi perked up at Tsuna's voice and looked towards the direction of the explosion. He was sitting on the ground, beside Shoichi, fidgeting. He had decided to not join the fight until a certain guardian of the brunette's appear. Besides, even though he might be able to help them, this fight serves as an experience for them, not him. 'Zakuro... Huh..'

His eyes narrowed, remembering the ones on that side.

"I hope they took out the enemies with one attack" Reborn said from Fuuta's shoulder. "Lal Mirch is still recovering, and Gokudera-kun is injured and unable to move very much. If the battle drags on, they'll be in danger" Shoichi added his two cent. He peered to the teen who was sitting beside him with his arms crossed and eyes focused on the side of the explosion. Shoichi honestly couldn't understand why Ryuuichi would join them. If the teen were to help, there would be a huge difference and Ryuuichi knew it. Yet, he declined.

_"I'll join later on. Don't worry"_  was the exact word he said yesterday. Shoichi believed that if he join in since the beginning, everything would be much better, but seeing that determined look and Yuni's agreement, he couldn't say much. Perhaps Ryuuichi has a plan in mind. Shoichi hoped he does.

Ryuuichi noticed Shoichi's stare and looked directly at him. He then looked towards the rest who were standing in front of them, and smiled. "Believe in them. They'll be alright" He said softly despite the tension and concern that loomed over everyone.

They then turned to look at him, but he said nothing else. Tsuna, especially, had looked at him with wavering gaze. Despite those reassuring words, he couldn't help but fear. He fear for himself, he fear for them, and he fear for the world. More importantly, he fear for his friends who were all in battle lives. He all but wanted to go and protect them. He wanted to drag them out of the battle for their sake, destroying the world in process be damned. But he couldn't.

The brunette clenched his fist, and fire burned in his eyes and his heart. He nodded. "I believe in them" 'And I always will' Yuni and the others looked at him, and nodded along. Reborn, held a small smirk as he pulled down his fedora a little. Ryuuichi too, smirked.

'We all believe in you guys. Please, be safe'

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh, so this is a Vongola Box? It certainly packs a lot more of a punch, but against my Dinosaur Skin, it only feels like the difference between a cold shower and a lukewarm one. Now, playtime's over!"

Gokudera narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. The memories of last night's discussion played in his mind. His own words, gave himself a pleasant hum as he gripped the string tighter, pulling it more. 'We'll defeat Byakuran, without losing the boss, any member of the family, me, or anyone else.'

His flames got stronger and stronger, as his resolve strengthen even more. Zakuro, on the end of the flame, felt it. "What?! You're storing up power?!" He hadn't expect that the injured bomber still have this much stored. (Well, this is basically what you get for underestimating the Vongola)

"We'll return to our peaceful past without losing anyone!" Gokudera released the string. "Tornado Flame Arrow!" The sheer power of the flame had somehow chipped off Zakuro's Dinosaur Skin a little. Gokudera pulled the string again, feeling the flames getting stronger.

Zakuro couldn't stand the flames anymore and jumped away. Gokudera clicked his tongue and tried to follow the Real Funeral Wreath. At that exact moment, he felt pain coursing through him, courtesy of his back injuries. Because of that, his next shot missed.

He was slowly losing it because of the pain. Curse the man as he noticed it through his winces. "Your back is injured. And you expect to defeat me?!" And Zakuro disappeared.

Gokudera turned around, looking for the man when Zakuro dropped down beside him out of nowhere and kicked him. He flew upwards but before he landed, he shot him with Gatling Arrow. Those said arrows made out of Storm flames pierced right through Zakuro's arms.

"Damn it! You-! You think you can stop me with this toy?!" Zakuro roared, muscles flexing before the arrows shattered, thanks to the storm flame around his body. "I'll crush you!"

"Like I would. You think you'll win if you shoot from a shorter range, right?" It was exactly Gokudera's plan, but the man managed to see through it. "Once I get serious, your flames are nothing. But it still wouldn't be any fun to fall for your trick" Zakuro disappeared and appeared behind Gokudera. "Hurry up and die!"

Gokudera wanted to turn around, but the pain delayed him. He wouldn't make it, if Uri didn't help him by increasing the pressure of the flame and creating a propulsion from it.  _"Yato. Remember that in battles, you won't be alone, alright?"_  He could somehow hear Ryuuichi's voice as he thanked his partner. The teen had said that before they moved to their respective posts. At first, he couldn't understand why would he tell him that, but now he does.

"He's close enough now!" He tighten his pull, before releasing it. "Die!"

\--------------------------------------------------------------

There was this bright light again. Ryuuichi, upon noticing the slight, red tint from the light and the fire, smirked. He closed his eyes, feeling a little relief despite he didn't even needed to worry. 'Good work, Yato' And then his smirk dropped. 'Next is Bluebell..' And then there were a few more explosions. He closed his eyes and tuned Tsuna and the others' voice out, focusing on listening to the background instead. It was hard, but he managed

First one was explosion, and then something had opened. He had heard rustlings too, before a roar of a lion resonated. These noises were hard to detect, but the small vibration on the ground along with his knowledge of the battle had helped him. (Somehow) Upon the roar, he smiled softly, letting out a breathe of air he unconsciously had held in.

He opened his eyes when he heard Gokudera's voice through his transmitter.

"Juudaime!" The brunette immediately perked up at the voice, relief washed over him like a tsunami. "Gokudera-kun?!" "Can you hear me, Juudaime?"

"I hear you! Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, somehow. We were saved by the Varia" Tsuna couldn't exactly believed it. The Varia, the assassin squad led by the ever raging Xanxus, is on their side and helping them. The same squad that had tried to kill them over the rings Tsuna and his guardians wore for the sake of this battle (and the upcoming ones, not that they knew). "They're still crazy, but Xanxus said that they're assisting us in the name of Vongola. Hate to admit it, but we're fine now because of them. You don't need to worry"

(Apparently, despite the fact that Vongola was the cause of his rage and sorrow, Xanxus still cares about Vongola and held the pride of it as high as the sky. After all, he was raised by the Ninth, whom love him like his biological sons, in Vongola, and planted the pride in him himself)

With the powerful reinforcement from Varia, they could be more relief. Now, they have another side to concentrate on worrying. (Yet, Tsuna could never stop worrying for Gokudera's side as well)

Ryuuichi looked up at the sky, watching the cloud drift. 'Lastly, Kikyo...'

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Tazaru couldn't understand. The brat that was laughing so obnoxiously behind him, why would the Vongola wanted him to fight? What could a small kid like him do against the monster? But the Vongola had insisted, saying that it's a must. The boss himself rejected, but he was forced to do so as the kid is a guardian too. And then, the boxer and the CEDEF guy said they had no intention on having the kid fight. So what's the point of having him here? To watch the dreadful battle against the enemies with the possibility to get killed? Tazaru simply just couldn't get it.

Ryohei, too, knew that it was a bad idea to get Lambo out here. The five years old, as said, is only five. But what Reborn had said made sense, even though Ryohei was a blockhead. Ryuuichi, the teen he hadn't exactly talked much to, had said perhaps Lambo could change the pace of the battle in dire situations. It wasn't just Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto, but everyone else, at that point, had started believing every single word Ryuuichi had said. Because his word held the truth, and his word held the results. Ryohei didn't know why, but he chose to believe those words.

_"To be safe, I'll tell you the switch I sealed in him with a bit of hypnosis. Shout it when you're in big trouble"_  Reborn's voice from their yesterday conversation played.

To Ryohei, in this kind of situation where one of Kikyo's animal box had bit Tazaru on the shoulder as the man tried to protect Lambo from it, is the said big trouble. "What's wrong, Lambo?! Don't you want to see Sawada's Mama?!" He yelled from his position, holding off the claws and tail of the dinosaur. He could see Lambo tearing up as he muttered Nana's title.

"Right! Sawada's Mama!"

_"His desire to see Mama, to return to the past, should serve to strengthen his surpressed resolve"_  Lambo started crying, as he asked for the woman who gave him warmth despite not being his biological mother's whereabouts. And then, he took out his box weapon and his ring from his unruly and curly hair, crackling with lightning flames. (The power of his flame couldn't be underestimated, definitely, even though he's simply just a kid)

"I wanna see Mama!" He injected the flame into his box weapon. "Gyuudon!!" A big bull appeared as he sat on top of the animal's head. Gyuudon's eyes narrowed as he changed into Cambio Forma. Ryohei and Basil watched his transformation, as the former explained. "According to Reborn, the first generation Guardian of the Lightning Ring was the son of a rich proprietor. A young, selfish and unworldly coward. But Primo chose to have him lead the way in battle. That contradiction is evident in Lambo's Vongola Box. That weapon is.."

"The lightning bolt with a hidden kick, Lampo's shield!" Lambo had armor, with a shield sized of his body in front, looking amazingly.. Awesome.

Though, Kikyo wasn't amazed or anything. If anything, he had looked down upon it, as it doesn't seem logical to serve any damage to his Nuvola Velocriraptor. Even Basil, not intentionally of course, had, but Ryohei said otherwise.

"No, the Lightning Vongola Box isn't that weak. The First Generation Guardian's weapon appears to be a shield at first glance, but it's hiding an incredible offensive power"

The shield that Lambo held glowed, lightning crackled from it as he cried. "Mama!" The lightning flame shot out, hitting the dinosaurs around him " _Corna Fulmine_!"

\---------------------------------------------------------------

From where they were standing, the could see bright green lightning flames crackling, and hearing the crackles of course. It was Lambo, no doubt. Which meant that Ryohei and the others were in quite a pinch at the moment. Ryuuichi clenched his arms, remembering that it would be Ryohei, and then Hibari. His eyes narrowed at the memories, but pushed down the unpleasant feeling that was growing in him.

He pushed himself up, rolling his neck and shoulders to get rid of the stiffness. They turned to him, wording why he suddenly stood up. "Ryuuichi?" "Ryuuichi-san?"

He gave them a wry smile and walked towards Yuni and Tsuna. "Well, I'll be going first." He was greeted with questioning 'eh' and eyes widening. "But Ryuuichi-!" Tsuna tried to stop him for it was too dangerous, but he shook his head, stopping the brunette from finishing his sentence. The said teen ruffled Tsuna's gravity defying hair with a chuckle. "Don't worry. Everything will be alright" 'Besides, it's not like I'm participating anyway' "If I don't go now, I'll be late"

Tsuna didn't want the teen to go. He knew that Ryuuichi might make a difference if he helps, but he didn't want Ryuuichi to fight. He didn't know why. Perhaps because Ryuuichi isn't a member of the Vongola, despite what the teen's older self had said. He didn't want Ryuuichi to get involved in this. But the dark brown eyes that could somehow look through him said otherwise. He, reluctantly, nodded.

Ryuuichi smiled at that, ruffling the brunette's hair harder before letting go, much to Tsuna's dismay. He turned to Yuni as they locked gaze. In their eyes, trust and determination could be seen. Ryuuichi laughed, when Yuni nodded. He then took her hand and pecked on it softly. His action had led to all of them except Reborn blushing, even Yuni. Reborn was simply, amused. Too amused, actually. The rest, however, was another story.

"W-wha-" Ryuuichi smirked at them, glancing into their eyes once before turning away. "Well, I'll be going now" And he took off to the direction of where the battle with Kikyo is. They watched as he disappeared into the trees and bushes, dazed. Who knew Ryuuichi could be this charming. (And flirtatious)

\---------------------------------------------------------------

When Ryuuichi deemed him out of the other's sight, he slowed to a stop before leaning his shoulder against a tree, a hand covering his face. He was smiling, yet he was blushing a little. He had absolutely no idea why he did that. Perhaps it was because he was thinking about doing something to make them flustered. And when that thought added with the mischief switch in him that sometimes couldn't be controlled, it happened before he could stop himself.

'Oh dear...'

He shook out of it, and continued with his journey when there was another explosion. As he ran, there was a sudden twinge. He stumbled to a stop, almost falling down but managed to keep himself on his feet the last second as he stared up to the sky. He could hear the shout of a certain prefect's name. Although he knew there weren't much to worry about, he still couldn't help it. And then, there was a familiar shudder.

Knowing the cause of the shudder, he continued his tracks, speeding up as fast as he could.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

"The Vongola defense has been wiped out now" Kikyo declared smugly, as Bluebell and Zakuro added their two cents behind him. Of course, he didn't mind it. Just as they were about to move to where Yuni is, one of Kikyo's box weapon's face changed into Hibari's face.

"What are you talking about? That will never happen" Then another changed into Ryohei's, Basil's and the Varia's. They attacked the Real Funeral Wreath, attacking the master of the box weapon much to Kikyo's dismay. Kikyo was bewildered when his box weapon attacked him. It wouldn't exactly be a surprise if they attack Zakuro or Bluebell, but him? He couldn't control them. That was when he realized it was an illusion.

"When do you think the illusion began?" He looked towards the open field when he felt presence.

"There you are!" He threw a cloud flame coated shoot to the direction of the hostile presence. Dust flew as the impact was made, but it missed. "Huh? Master, you took a step forward. You always have to be at the center of attention." A monotonous voice, followed by a familiar creepy laugh were heard.

"What are you saying? Your head was blocking me" The sight cleared as Mukuro who stood beside his apprentice, Fran. "You always try to hog all the glory" Their appearance surprised the three Real Funeral Wreath. And then a certain prefect with his tonfa out, appeared.

"Are you done? Why did you fake our deaths?" He was, by no means, irritated. The rest, then, started popped out one by one, complaining. The Varia, actually.

Nevertheless, Mukuro had finished his so called warming up.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sweated as he stumbled out into the open field, where the rest stood, unharmed. He sighed upon that, and upon seeing Mukuro. The said man had just finished his small 'speech' with the conclusion that the Real Funeral Wreath are very strong. Fran held a yellow cone and monotonously shouted that the 'show' will be starting. Ryuuichi stifled a laugh at the large frog hat and somehow, he managed to grab everyone's attention unintentionally. He screamed internally when eyes were set on him. He stiffly nodded, glancing into Mukuro's heterochromia eyes for brief moment.

He then looked into a familiar pair of grey eyes, relief when he confirmed to himself that the prefect wasn't an illusion. How strange of him needing reassurance when he knew that the prefect is real.

Hibari, noticed something as they locked eyes and raised an eyebrow. Though, he said nothing. When Ryuuichi broke the staring contest when the teen looked up to the Real Funeral Wreath, he merely stared a little longer before looking up too.

"This is where the Millefiore and the Vongola will have their final battle" Kikyo said, somewhat amused.

"The side which controls this area shall prevail in the end" Mukuro added with similar amusement when Fran retorted, telling his master to simply 'suck his thumb and watch' since he was still recovering. That, and he need to wait for the Vongola box.

Ryuuichi blinked at that. Now that he think about it, where did Chrome went? She wasn't with the teams that ambushed Kikyo and Zakuro, and he remembered the scene that she was running to where they were, and got slapped by M.M. He narrowed his eyes when he remembered the latter. He unconsciously rubbed his shoulder. He was still annoyed at the fact that the girl had beat him even though he tried to tone it down. Still, it was not a good memory and it quite an effort for him to push everything down again.

And then, all hell broke lost when he finally broke himself out of his train of thoughts. He quickly jumped further away when they started fighting, shooting a few stray shots and Kikyo's dinosaur whilst standing in front of the injured ones, namely Ryohei and Gokudera. Ryohei and Gokudera leaned against a tree, resting, as the former reported to Tsuna about their situation when a loud blast erupted, surprising them. Ryuuichi grimace as he shot one of the dinosaur, his cloud flame from the extra ring he wore created a purple flame arrow that burned down the creature. No doubt, his flames were flammable. A little too flammable, he would say.

Suddenly, he felt something was coming. His heart jumped once as his eyes widen. He glanced up to the sky and saw green ripples. The ripples then turned bigger and bigger and lightning flame flashed about. At that, he quickly cut off his flame and took off his rings.

A bright light momentarily blinded them and when the it disappeared, a giant, naked guy with long hair appeared.

"Ghost."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact= Kiss on the hand means respect, adoration, kindness, politeness and many others.
> 
> Fun Fact= When Ryuuichi pecked Yuni's hand, Reborn, although amused, was a little bit.. annoyed. A tiny bit. That, and he had somehow taped that down. How, please don't ask why.
> 
> Ryuuichi could somehow 'hear' the explosions in more detail perhaps was a bit too much. Though, he had somehow gained a skill of cutting every noise out when he focused on something during the time he spent with Tsuna and the others. Especially when he was reading. He would absolutely ignore you if he was too deep in his book. (Which gained him pokes on the side courtesy of Yuuichi)
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi subconsciously worries about Hibari more than the others. (And if Gokudera and Dino knows about it, they would be jealous. Definitely.) He himself didn't realize it, nor did the others anyway since he rarely show or say anything other than a frown or scowl. Or both.
> 
> In the previous chapter, Ryuuichi had used the ring that received acceptance from the first generation to open his box weapon. After doing so, he immediately chain the ring back onto his neck. It wasn't written, which I just realized.
> 
> During the fight on the last section where Ryuuichi 'helped' a little, he was wearing the sun ring and the cloud ring that his older self left behind. He didn't noticed this but the cloud ring cracked a little.
> 
> The fact that Ghost is naked still... Weird me out a little.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	41. Ghost

Ryuuichi sweated, tensed up when Ghost started walking. Ghost, although quite harmless in a way, was literally a ghost. Any attacks does little to no damage to the glowing giant. He briefly peered up at the rest of the Real Funeral Wreaths, they were all edgy. Not only them, the others were the same. Especially after Belphegor's attack that simply went through the giant.

Ghost wasn't an illusion. Mukuro and Fran confirmed it. When Levi's flame had passed through the giant too, Basil suggested to use multiple flames of element with Gokudera and Ryohei, which they complied. (Ryuuichi knew it was quite a bad idea, but said nothing about it.) They injected their flames into their boxes, and their box animals came out. Uri ran forward, towards Ghost as Alfin and Garyuu supported by shooting Uri with their flames. And a matured leopard with Rain, Sun and Storm flame flaring.

"Solarstorm Fang!"

The sheer amount of flames were impressive and when Uri and Ghost collided, dust flew about and flames crackled about. When their sight cleared, Ghost was still strolling like he wasn't attacked a few moments ago, a transparent shield around him. Uri, who turned small again, was unconscious as it fell down.

Ryuuichi gritted his teeth, when green tubes shot out of the shield, shooting towards them. He quickly dodged one that almost hit him, jumping away. He looked up just in time to see Bluebell shrink and disappeared. He grimaced at the sight and quickly looked away, eyes focused on Ghost and the tubes. If he's careless, he might die. Xanxus shot it, but his flame was simply absorbed into the shield, surprising the man.

The flames from the others' rings were sucked out too, even when they didn't do anything. Ryuuichi was the only one who didn't, but he could feel a strong suction tugged in him. He was slowly getting more suffocated. He distantly noticed that Mukuro go off into the forest as he watched Kikyo and Zakuro, and of course, the others dodging the tubes. One demonstration is enough, after all.

He breathed in and out deeply, trying to get his breathing stable, and managed to smirk a little. It won't be long until Tsuna come. And when he does, Ghost would be nothing but a ghost. Ryuuichi frowned, feeling getting more uncomfortable. He jumped away again, looking behind just in case the tube decided to turn around and shoot him from behind.

"Ryuuichi!"

He jerked a little at the call and turned around, to see another tube shooting towards him. He realized just a split second later that he won't make it on time to dodge the tube. He cursed himself and tried nonetheless. Just as the tube was about to hit him, he was pulled back by the arm, the tube missing him by a hair. He stumbled back and hit a chest.

His eyes were wide as he sighed in relief and turned to his savior, only to find a scowling Hibari glaring at him. He sweated a little at that. "U-umm.. Thank you" Hibari narrowed his eyes at him before grunting. The prefect let go of his arms, but stayed close to him. He occasionally glanced at Ryuuichi as he cautiously watched the tubes that was still shooting out of the transparent shield Ghost has.

Ryuuichi blinked at that, but had his attention took away when he heard Tsuna's voice. The brunette was listening to Ryohei's explanation of their situation here. Ryohei wanted Tsuna to take Yuni away from there as fast as they could, but Tsuna could never. Not to mention Yuni had said that she would not escape any more. Though, more on the fact that leaving anyone behind dreads him.

Tsuna clenched his fist tightly until his knuckles turned slightly white. He wanted to go help them, but he couldn't leave as Yuni might in danger if he do so. But not helping them on the other hand....

"Sawada-san. Please go. I have Uncle Reborn here." Yuni smiled so earnestly that Tsuna was surprised. How was she able to smile in this kind of situation confused him. How was she able to stay optimist, was an incredible feat that Tsuna might never manage. He couldn't decide, but Yuni's reassuring voice somehow convinced him.

He, with a very glad and tinted with slight fatigue, thanked her. "But that's too reckless! It's the same as throwing your life away!" Fuuta protested. Reborn's eyes were shaded by his fedora as the Arcobaleno told him to decide on his own. It's his own life after all. Tsuna knew that he might just die if he were to go. He knew very well that he would be getting himself killed. Though, he honestly rather die helping his friends rather than anything. If he were to die saving his friends, he would gladly do it, but he will never leave his friends to die for him, or Yuni. No. Never.

He glanced at Yuni, Shoichi, Haru, Kyoko, I-Pin and back to Reborn and Fuuta. He closed his eyes and turned, opening them again, eyes burning. His mittens were on, two blue pills on his palm. He swallowed them, feeling something akin to calmness takes over as orange flame flared on his forehead, mittens turned into gloves.

"Wait here, everyone" His fist clenched, Sky flames burst. His narrowed, orange eyes aimed for only one place at the moment. The battle site. "I'm off"

\------------------------------------------------

While they were waiting, or rather, Ryuuichi was waiting for Tsuna's arrival, Yamamoto, Dino, Kusakabe and Romario appeared. Yamamoto managed to save Gokudera and Ryohei when the tube curved back towards them, though his flames were sucked through his sword.

It was bad. Very bad. Ghost's flame had started to crackle and with that much amount of flames from all of them, it would straight jump to Yuni. Definitely.

"I won't let that happen!" They looked up to the sky upon the voice, and saw a Hyper Dying Mode Tsuna flying towards them. Ryuuichi could briefly see orange flames being sucked towards Ghost even though he was still quite far away from it. And then, the brunette went into his Zero Point Breakthrough: Revised stance. The green tubes shot upwards towards Tsuna, latching onto his being as they sucked each others' flames.

Tsuna rushed forward and clashed with Ghost's shield, not stopping on absorbing flames. The impact shone brightly, blinding them. At that, Ryuuichi gasped and fell onto his knees. He was breathing heavily, shoulders heaving as he desperately trying to suck in oxygen. It was as if he was hyperventilating, yet he wasn't. He felt more light headed as the 'suction' got stronger, temporary losing his hearing. All he could hear, or feel, was very muffled shouts, and vibrations.

He was getting more and more weaker as each seconds passed. He dug his fingers into the ground, gritting his teeth in pain.

Similar to the others, Hibari was momentarily blinded by the bright light, much to his dismay. When his sight cleared, he could see the brunette and the giant in the middle. That was when he noticed Ryuuichi was on the ground, when the teen was supposed to be standing beside him. He would probably never admit but he panicked a little when he saw the small shoulders moving up and down in quite a fast pace. He quickly knelt down, placing a hand behind Ryuuichi's back.

"Oi. What's wrong" Hibari himself was surprised at the concern laced in his own voice, but dismissed the thought and focused on Ryuuichi. The teen couldn't hear him, he knew that. He also knew that he couldn't breathe, seeing how hardly he was trying to suck air into his lungs. What he didn't know was what caused him unable to breathe. Ryuuichi was as though he had a bad case of asthma. His mind flew through all his memories about first aid as he tried to get Ryuuichi look at him.

Ryuuichi felt a pair of hands cupping his face and tilting it up. He saw Hibari. The prefect's lips were moving, as though he was talking but he couldn't hear it other than the annoying rings. He winced, peering it Ghost and Tsuna for a moment before black spots appeared in his sight. He felt weaker, his arms couldn't hold him up and he slipped, almost falling face flat onto the floor if not for Hibari holding him up.

Although he felt as though he was going to die courtesy of the suffocation, he managed a small, weak smile. Tsuna was already winning, and when the vibrations finally stopped, he knew the brunette won against Ghost, absorbing it. The suction finally stopped. He closed his eyes, finally feeling oxygen getting into his system and filling his lungs. He could feel his senses finally working again.

"Oi, small animal" He snapped his eyes open at the voice and found himself in Hibari's arms. His eyes widen for the nth time that day and wanted to pull away, but his strength haven't return, much to his dismay. (He secretly wanted to stay like that though) "S-senpai?" He muttered softly, mildly aware that no one noticed their position, fortunately. Hibari was frowning very hard, Ryuuichi would say. He blinked a few more times.

"What's wrong?" Hibari helped him up, steadying him when he almost fell. The prefect mildly aware that the teen could breathe properly again, but he was still worried. He had never seen the teen like this before. Although it was slightly interesting, but Ryuuichi was as though in pain, and Hibari didn't like that.

His eyes widen at the realization. 'Me? Worried? About him?' He frowned even harder.

Ryuuichi winced when he stood, his head was hurting a little as dizziness took it's place before disappearing as soon as it appeared. He shook his head lightly. He thanked Hibari again, but the prefect was somehow lost in his own world. He slowly moved away from Hibari's grip when he finally snapped out of it and let him go. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at that but paid not much heed.

He wondered what the hell had happened to him. Was it because he wasn't wearing his ring, and the flames in him were sucked when Ghost and Tsuna absorbed flames which caused him unable to breathe? There's a high possibility, but there wasn't anything solid to prove that. He narrowed his eyes, feeling annoyed for some reason.

"Wow, I'm so impressed. You actually defeated Ghost" They looked up and saw Byakuran, with his ever so annoying smirk. "I'm glad to see you're doing well, Tsunayoshi-kun" The said brunette gritted his teeth and glared seethingly at the man. The man, who cause all of them so much pain, the one who killed their loved ones.

"This is a crazy lineup here. The boss of the Cavallone Family, the Vongola's independent assassination squad, Varia, the Vongola's outside advisor's team, and Mukuro-kun, along with the other Vongola Guardians. And of course, the ever so powerful Ryuuichi-kun"

Ryuuichi tensed up at that, glaring at the man. There was absolutely no reason to mention about him. Absolutely no. Ryuuichi seriously don't get why would they even remember him in these kind of situation. Seriously, no. Don't. (Too bad for him, his presence attracts attention. And trouble. A little. Much like Tsuna)

"I'm so thrilled to see the Vongola's strongest members assembled here. Though, I must say that you have a peculiar taste, Tsunayoshi-kun. Just look. Mukuro-kun and Xanxus-kun. You're working with people who once tried to kill you. That's pretty insane." The one who should be labelled as insane is Byakuran himself. He, actually wanted to dominate the world for the sake of it and his power. And the fact that he regard most as a game? Ryuuichi was pretty sure that was more insane.

Xanxus, hearing that, menacingly retorted in a low voice. "Let's get this straight. I ain't working for Sawada!" The man shot Byakuran with his gun, not once looking at him. Next was Mukuro, as he used one of his hell ring and veins with eyes shot out of his ring and towards Byakuran as well. Mukuro was not pleased at all to be grouped with the Mafia by Byakuran. Absolutely not.

"I see. Sorry about that" There was a shattering sound, and when the dust surrounding Byakuran disappear, they could see him still up in the air, with not even one speck of injuries. "Anyway, you all seem pretty tired. What was with that pitiful attack? Can't really blame you though. Since Ghost absorbed most of your flames. You're all out of gas" 'Well, except for Tsunayoshi-kun and Ryuuichi-kun'

Byakuran felt a sudden thrill of excitement (and slight fear). He wanted to fight Tsuna and Ryuuichi, and finish them already. More so towards the latter one. When he was done with all of them, he will claim Yuni and Ryuuichi. He would break them, and make them into his puppets who could do nothing without him. (The sadism streak in him was triggered at that, especially when he knew that one of them would put up a whole lot of struggling)

Xanxus and Mukuro, of course, wasn't happy about being looked down, and challenged Byakuran back. The already irritated Hibari, too, joined in.

"Everyone get back. He's mine!" Tsuna intervened. The three said nor did anything to protest. They knew their limits, even if they didn't want to admit it, and when the brunette was like that, they just couldn't say no. The Skies have their own battles after all. Byakuran seemed to be amused at that as he laughed quite gleefully.

"Do you know why I chose this time to show up, Tsunayoshi-kun? Because my body and spirit are finally ready"

"I've been ready for a long time" In a blink, Tsuna flew up and round house kicked Byakuran behind him, surprising the others at his speed. He didn't let Byakuran rest and grabbed the man's head, kneeing into his face. He then rushed forward again, attempted to punch Byakuran, only to have his fist stopped by a single finger.

Tsuna was shocked at the strength. He was stopped by a finger. One, finger. Who wouldn't be surprised. Not to mention that he couldn't even overpower it.

"Oh? What's wrong? That's the best you can do? Then it's my turn. White Finger" Byakuran's Mare ring glowed once, and a streak of transparent light pushed Tsuna down to the ground. The impact had caused a crater. Tsuna stayed on the ground for a moment, face down, before he pushed himself up, pushing back the pain.

"Can't have you dying from that. I've only used a tenth of the flames absorbed by Ghost"

And then, a pair of wings with small, rainbow sparks flowing down of its feathers. They were created by the flames Byakuran had absorbed.

Tsuna gritted his teeth. When he had absorbed Ghost and he couldn't feel the flames of his comrades, he had somehow guessed that they were with Byakuran. His intuition with rang at that moment proved otherwise too.

Upon the sight of the wings, Ryuuichi somehow felt an absent feeling behind him. He rubbed his neck, getting quite uncomfortable at that. Frowning lightly, he shifted all his weight to another leg, eyes never leaving the two that were fighting. The flames, that Ghost absorbed, were transferred to Byakuran. Although it was impossible for this feat to happen without physical contact, Ghost wasn't just any being. He was Byakuran himself from another parallel world. From the one world that was utterly destroyed by the man just to bring his other self to this world, just because he thought that things would be easier to do if there were two of him.

But as a consequence, Ghost became a mindless being. How ironic that Byakuran would be gladly to sacrifice himself, or his other self in this case, for the sake of dominating the world, when he would be the one ruling if he succeed.

'If he managed, that is. Like hell it would happen anyway'

The others could believe it. Logically, it was, after all, impossible. Though, Byakuran is the Mare ring owner. One of the pieces of the Tri-Ni-Sette. Miracles happen with it.

"These wings are more than simply flames. They're a symbol of sorts. It's a proof that I've become greater than human"

( _"Heh"_  Ryuuichi blinked, looking around. He thought he had just heard an amused scoff, from an unfamiliar voice. He raised an eyebrow when he realized there weren't anyone else, nor did anyone noticed the voice. 'The heck?')

"What are you talking about?!" "Are you trying to say that you're god?!" Dino and Squalo were angry at that as they spoke up in rage. "A god? Byakuran-sama is meant to be worshiped as a devil." Kikyo, with pride so full that they could literally hear and see it, explained.

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you use or what methods you use, I'm going to take you down!" Byakuran smirked, amused by that as Tsuna spoke from his spot in the crater. "That's the spirit, Tsunayoshi-kun" They both lit up their ring with a strength that had all of them, even Yuni and the others, wavered. The pressure was frigging high, and heavy, in a sense."I came here to play, so you better entertain me."

Tsuna flew upwards, punching the man in the guts again and again but the man did not seemed to be bother by it. Heck, Byakuran even said it tickles, much to Tsuna's chagrin. Realizing that his attack did no damage to the man, he backed off. "Finished already? That's no fun. You can play with my pet" Byakuran's ring glowed, the pressure rising, before a dragon appeared on his hand. "White Dragon"

The brunette scowled. It was a box weapon, he noticed that when he saw a box dangling on a chain. His attention were taken back onto Byakuran as the man thrust his hand with the dragon out, the creature flying towards him and roared. He quickly called out Natsu and into combat form. Natsu changed into the mantle just in time to defense against the dragon. Tsuna gritted his teeth at the strong impact.

Byakuran raised his hand up and the dragon returned, Natsu changing out of his form. "Well? Isn't this dragon box weapon amazing? I'm the only one who has one. But even then, I was holding back most of my power. The next one will go right through you" The man's hand glowed again.

He thrust his hand out again and the dragon went towards Tsuna and Natsu. Natsu growled, but Tsuna remained unfazed as he coaxed his partner not to fall for it. When the dragon hit him, he used Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition. The dragon then froze in ice. He then flew towards Byakuran again, having Natsu going into Cambio Forma Modo Attacco. A gauntlet formed on Tsuna's right fist.

(Ryuuichi wasn't exactly surprised at the new move from Tsuna, but he, internally smirked when the others, including Byakuran and Tsuna himself, thought that it was the brunette's full strength. That, was simply an understatement. Well, they would just have to realize that themself later on)

Byakuran didn't dodge or anything, in fact, he stayed static as Tsuna, infuriated, threw the punch. With a simple clap, the attack was cancelled. "White Applause"

An attack that could shatter any attack. What load of bullshit, Ryuuichi would say in the past. But seeing it first hand, he knew that the attack was very powerful. And it brought a moment of dread. He worriedly gazed at the devastated brunette who was taken aback by what had just happened, before Tsuna was punched down to the ground.

Byakuran followed, his flame-wings flapped as he landed. At the same time, Tsuna pushed himself up "You try hard, Tsunayoshi-kun. But.." The man reached out, a giant transparent hand appeared and gripped Tsuna tightly. "You can stop now." He tighten his grip. Tsuna groaned out loud at that.

The man laughed, mockingly said. "Tsunayoshi-kun, you're so powerless. I could crush you just like that." He tighten further, crushing the said teen even more. Tsuna shakily gripped the giant hand with his free hand, in attempt to pull it off but he felt weak. It was as though his strength suddenly left him. Fatigue was getting onto him.

"I was expecting you to put up more of a fight, but this is no fun. You're are, right? That the size of the flames from your ring is the size of your resolve. Your resolve to return your buddies to the past must be weak?"

'Weak?  _Weak?!_ ' How dare he. How dare Byakuran say his resolve is weak. How dare, the man who brought them this much anguish, say that? He had absolutely no right to say that. Nor would he ever have. He, of all people, have no right to place his own judgement on him. 'No. I'm not done yet!'

Rage, and a full blown determination bubbled in him as he pictured his friends, his family, in his mind. 'I'll defeat him and send everyone back to the past!' His ring started to glow. Streams of orange, Sky flame flared off.

"The pressure's a little higher. I'll follow suit then" Byakuran's ring too shot streams of flame. Upon that, Tsuna rose his own up higher. Byakuran didn't back up from that challenge, and did the same. Strong currents of sky flames shot out, causing a slight vibration. The flares had most of them back off, pressure too much for them to handle, except for Ryuuichi who stood perfectly fine.

There was a pull. It wasn't like the one from the strong, suffocating suctions. It was more a coaxing like pull. There was this foreign warmth. Ryuuichi could help, but moved forward slightly.

And then was a sound of bell. Byakuran, Tsuna and Yuni, unsurprisingly, were encaged in this transparent, orange sphere as the bell continued to resonate. Their rings were reverberating. But surprisingly, Ryuuichi, too, were encaged in the same sphere, the ring around his neck, the same ring he had no idea about, fallen out from the collar of his shirt and was flaming in orange.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, I won't explain much about this chapter except for one.
> 
> Since Dying Will Flames are the energy waves that convert itself into high-density form of flames, and its somewhat the life-force in ones body, it practically means that Dying Will Flames are in the person itself. Hmm... For the others' case, their flames were absorbed through their rings and/or weapons despite not doing anything during the fight with ghost, they would feel physically weaker and worn out. But for Ryuuichi's case, since he didn't wear any ring that time, felt something in him sucked.
> 
> It's like sucking something out of it's core. Although there's a possibility his flame seep out without even using his ring or weapons, he's different. Hmm.. is this confusing? It feels like very confusing, even for myself.
> 
> Anyway, the point is, Ryuuichi's flame is like his core. And there's a few more things about this, but will explain it later on. Wow. I realized that there will be a lot of explanation after this. *sweat drop*
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	42. The Gathering of Four Skies

"What-"

Ryuuichi's eyes were wide as they could go as he looked down to the flaming ring. It didn't burn him, in fact, it felt warm, and familiar. He felt as though he had finally found the missing piece in him. He was to preoccupied with the fact that his ring were reverberating with the Tri-Ni-Sette, that he didn't notice his along with Tsuna and Byakuran's shield expand, and there was another one coming to their direction. Yuni. The shield that encaged four of them merged into one, large hemisphere with orange tint.

He gazed to Yuni as she landed. The chain of his ring shattered and the ring landed on his right hand. He blinked, still trying to process the whatever had happen. Yuni, Byakuran and Tsuna gathered, for the three Sky pieces of the Tri-Ni-Sette had called out to each other.

But Ryuuichi?

He held nothing of the Tri-Ni-Sette. He shouldn't even be called in as well. There wasn't anything of his that connects with the Tri-Ni-Sette. So why? "Well? Aren't you surprised?" He snapped his head up towards the smirking man. "When the Tri-Ni-Sette Sky element release incredible amount of flames, they create this unique situation."

"Though," He frowned as Byakuran turned to him with a curious, intrigued look. "I wondered why Ryuuichi-kun would be called in as well" He clutched the still flaming ring. He had absolutely no idea. Not even a pinch of it.

He stayed silent. When Byakuran knew that he wouldn't answer, not like he knew anything, the man simply shrug and returned to the task in hand. Literally. He would just have to deal with the teen later. (Secretly, he couldn't wait) "I no longer need Tsunayoshi-kun" He tighten his hand, crushing Tsuna like the brunette was nothing. Pained and suffocated, Tsuna gasped. Yuni was horrified by his suffering, and tried to stop Byakuran. Ryuuichi, on the other hand, did nothing but watched.

(Outside the sphere, Hibari was scowling and twitching, wanting nothing more than break this huge shield down. He was not happy even the slightest when he was quite literally pushed away by the shield. He had tried to break the shield, but was stopped by Ryuuichi who shook his head. He gritted his teeth in annoyance. The rest, especially Gokudera and Yamamoto, tensed up upon their best friend's pain. But Gokudera and Yamamoto was bewildered by the fact that Ryuuichi did nothing at all. They couldn't understand. Why didn't Ryuuichi did anything? He could easily distract Byakuran for Tsuna, so why?)

"How can you possibly tell me to stop now? Weren't you the one who forced the Vongola people into risking their lives to protect you? Even when you knew from the very beginning that they couldn't possibly defeat me. Your aimless escape only served to increase the number of victims. Could you be anymore selfish?"

"If she's considered selfish, then what are you, Byakuran? Egomaniac?" The said man turned to glare at Ryuuichi. The teen, with half-lidded eyes, returned a cold, icy glare of his own, pulling it more into a death stare. He was unfazed at the supposedly scary glare as he continued. (One of his switch were suddenly pushed when Byakuran said the exact last sentence to the girl) "I wonder, how many more had sacrificed slash killed simply for your mere wish to obtain the Tri-Ni-Sette. If you were to say her simply wanting to see following her commands for the sake of it, then I must say, you are practically a big hypocrite"

"You're one yourself, Ryuuichi-kun. So where's your standing on saying me a hypocrite?" He shrugged. "I never said that I wasn't one, and I've all my places to speak." Before Byakuran can say anything more, something under Yuni's white cloak glowed, snatching their attention to her.

She hugged shoulders, willing the glows to disappear. If Byakuran looked angered by Ryuuichi, he surely looked pleasantly delighted as he perked up like a cat caught something interesting. "What was that? You're hiding something under your cloak."

Yuni ignored that and whispered. "No, not yet.."

Ryuuichi furrowed his eyebrows as her cloak ruffled and pacifiers dropped down. There were things sticking out of it. The Arcobaleno were regenerating their bodies. He half heartedly noted that Reborn and Fuuta's arrival, as the hitman explained. It was one of Yuni's ability. To bring the Arcobaleno back to life from the brink of death. A gift as the Sky Arcobaleno.

'And a curse..'

Yuni escape, was to buy time to revived them back. For the sake of the balance of this world, and... Yuni gathered the pacifiers and held it tightly, eyes clenched.

"It's true that there isn't any Non Tri-Ni-Sette here to torture the Arcobaleno. It would be annoying if they came back now. But it looks like we still have an hour at the very least, before the Arcobaleno return." Byakuran was right. He closed his fist further, breaking Tsuna's bone. Ryuuichi could hear them breaking. He winced, almost jumped to the brunette but stay rooted.

Tsuna's orange eyes dulled back into brown and fell onto the ground when Byakuran released his grasp. The flame on his forehead dispersed. "Juudaime!" "Tsuna!" "Sawada-san!" Dread was clear in Gokudera, Yamamoto and Yuni's voices.

"You can bring back whatever you want and I still won't lose, but that would be a waste of time, right? No one can come inside this impenetrable barrier. You are mine now. You can cry and scream all you want. The Arcobaleno aren't going to defeat me"

"That's right" Reborn suddenly spoke up. "The Arcobaleno aren't the ones who will defeat you. That job belongs to my student, Tsuna!" Reborn held an unbelievable amount of trust towards the brunette, no doubt. He knew that Tsuna would be the downfall of Byakuran. Perhaps Ryuuichi knew too, seeing that the teen didn't did anything. Although the hitman didn't understand why he was inside the sphere, he knew that if Ryuuichi wasn't interfering with anything, there wouldn't be much problem. Though, what was going to happen remained unknown to him, and it infuriates and frustrates him.

And then, the rest arrived. Byakuran ignored Shoichi's question and replied to Reborn. "Did Tsunayoshi-kun said that he would defeat me, Reborn-kun?"

"That's right"

"Haven't you been paying attention? I've completely crushed Tsunayoshi-kun!" Byakuran spoke with so much glee that one could say he had gone crazy. Then again, the man is crazy. Crazy for power, that is. Yet, despite that, Reborn remained firm. "Don't underestimate Tsuna's Dying Will. Besides, I'm not talking about winning or losing here." Reborn looked towards the brunette lying on the floor.

"Tsuna. You have to defeat Byakuran" Tsuna remained motionless on the ground, as the others waited anxiously for him to just, move. After a moment of tensed silence, Byakuran scoffed and laughed. "That was a surprise. I thought you actually had a point to make, but you just wanted to give a little motivational speech"

"This is how I roll. Listen up, Tsuna. You aren't the only one here who's putting up everything on the line here. Yuni plans to send everyone back to the past by sacrificing her life. The revival of the Arcobaleno takes more than Yuni's power. She has to burn off her 'Life Flame'. That will lead to her body being destroyed. Which means she'll die"

Ryuuichi looked away for a moment.

"Oh, so that's how it is."

Yuni, looked towards Reborn resignedly. "Uncle Reborn, you knew all along?" "Of course. Wasn't hard to guess. Since you're just like your late grandmother, Luce."

"Hmm... I can't let you do such a foolish thing. Since your life belongs to me"

"Don't run your mouth to early, Marshmallow freak" Ryuuichi muttered lowly, but quite loud, when a cough was heard. Tsuna hacked as he pushed himself up, shaking with great effort. He winced in pain, groaning. Byakuran was slightly fazed, Ryuuichi noticed, as the man laughed once again. "Reborn-kun's little pep talk actually woke him up. You make a great team."

"I-I won't l-let you have Yuni" Tsuna was shaking. There's no point in denying that he was afraid. He was greatly injured, and in pain. He felt weak, like a simple poke could possibly knock him down. Even Byakuran said so. But, he definitely won't let Byakuran have Yuni. Never.

"How unlucky for you to wake up to these hopeless circumstances. But I suppose that you haven't had any luck since you entered middle school. I know a great deal about you. You were an ordinary middle school student, who did poorly academically and athletically, and you hated school, but one day, a skilled hitman showed up and tell you that you were a candidate to become a big mafia boss. And that was how you were drawn into this scary underground world. Ever since, you've been risking your life.

"You hate to fight, yet you were involved in internal disputes and battles for the position of boss. And your luck completely ran out once you arrived in this time. If you hadn't been brought here, you wouldn't have had to suffer. It makes you curse your own fate, doesn't it?"

"N-no.. That's not entirely true. It's true that the future has caused me fear, pain and worry, and I was only truly happy for a very brief time, but now... " Whatever Byakuran said, was all wrong. He wasn't even a tad bit close. Rather than unlucky, Tsuna felt fortunate instead. Very, very fortunate. Because of Reborn's arrival, his life changed. He gained life-long, true friends and comrades. He no longer is the depressed, timid Dame-Tsuna most known him for. He changed, for the better. He, finally, is no longer alone.

"Now I think I understand." He clenched his hands. "You take the good with the bad. I consider everything that has happened to be precious moments of my life"

Byakuran wasn't a tad bit impressed by the short speech. "That's an interesting interpretation. But you should reconsider. None of that matter if I kill you" A small, flaming needle appeared in betweens his fingers. The others panicked as Gokudera tried once more to break the shield down to no avail. 'Damn it-- Why- Drake--' The teen, still standing there, watching. Gokudera could somehow see an edge on his form, but the bomber was too focused on figuring why Ryuuichi just wouldn't help Tsuna.

Ryuuichi could feel the stare but he paid little to no heed. He knew that they want him to go lend the brunette a hand, he wanted too, but he couldn't. This moment, this fight, was Tsuna's and his alone. For Tsuna to learn, to grow, he couldn't interfere.

"Let's see. In your current state, I just need to send this mini-White Dragon through your heart." Tsuna stumbled back, reverting to his usual self. "W-wait!" "Not happening" And he shot it out, straight towards Tsuna and pierced into his chest.

He was thrown back, landing on his back. Byakuran laughed and turned to Ryuuichi, to be greeted with a gun glowing in purple pointing at him. "I almost forgotten about you, Ryuuichi-kun. How about this? You join me, and I'll leave all of your family members alone" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow, feeling annoyed and slightly angered by Byakuran for threatening him with his family. (He was a little bit weird out though, seeing that Byakuran should straight talk to Yuni instead of him. That, and was Byakuran suicidal enough to go against Vindice? Apparently yes.)

"You don't bring my family into this, Byakuran. I've no intention or whatsoever in joining you. Although I've been wanting to shoot you  _ **everywhere**_  til you  _ **bleed**_  to death, I'll leave that to Tsuna" He tilted his head to the brunette, who suddenly yowled out in pain as he pushed himself up. Tsuna sat up once again, coughing.

He ripped open his shirt and took hold on the ring around his neck. The ring that Lanchia had gave him. Instead of his heart, the mini-White Dragon had stuck onto the ring. That coincidence had surprised most of them. 'But coincidence doesn't exist.'

"So it's true.." He pluck the needle out and kept the ring in the inner pocket of his jacket. "Everything has played a part. I wouldn't give up a single moment since I've arrive in the future. The pain, the suffering, the fun.. I'm here right now because everyone was there for me. The technique and weapons I've acquired in the future.." His friends advice and encouragement played in his mind. From Haru, to Spanner, to Shoichi, to Kyoko.

"I couldn't have accomplished any of that by standing still. I couldn't have accomplished any of that without everyone's help. Unlucky? I feel pretty lucky. I treasure every moment I've spent here. My flames could only have been born in this future you rule, and they belong to everyone!" His hand glowed, rage started overtaking as his voice got lower, and calmer. "You've hurt so many innocent people," His mittens turned into Vongola Gloves, the flame on his forehead lit up again with a ferocity of a enraged lion. "And I'm gonna make you regret it!"

Ryuuichi smiled, lowering his gun and placed it back to it's holster strapped on his leg. Tsuna had understood. No, he had long understood about it. It was just that Ryuuichi slipped and didn't notice it. "Sorry to spoil this touching moment, but you haven't solve anything. Your power still pales compared to mine, just as before"

"Are you sure about that?" A voice was heard, as not only Tsuna's Sky ring, but also the rest of the Vongola Guardian's, glowed. A hologram-like image appeared, projecting the First Generation Guardians. "What a pathetic look on your faces" G, said. Lampo, sighed as he was to deal with Lambo. "We are always with you." "You're not the type to give up now" Asari, and Knuckle.

"That's impossible right now. Though I'm not interested in what you plan to do." Alaude spoke to Hibari, who wanted to bite Byakuran to death. "Pity.. Your back is to the wall, and you still refuse to change your position. The Vongola does not need such weakness." The melon he- Daemon sighed.

"Decimo is saying the same things our boss did." "He truly does carry on our will."

"So it's okay then?"

"We already deemed the Guardians worthy. Not that you even need to ask us. Just do whatever you want. Like always"

"You're right, G." Tsuna's ring glowed once more, the voice of a certain man resonated. "Decimo, I agreed with your thinking. I'd like to help out my true successor in person, but I can't do that. Instead" The glove glowed, the crest of Vongola Family appeared. "I'll unleash you" Giotto, appeared.

\--------------------------------------------------------

"Is this some kind of game, Tsunayoshi-kun? Who's that man?" Byakuran was definitely not amused when Yuni answer, claiming that the blonde Tsunayoshi-look-alike is Vongola's founder, Vongola Primo. "Could you stop joking around? It's not very nice to use a hologram of your ancestors."

"It's not a hologram. You should able to sense that. Even among the Tri-Ni-Sette, this will never happen for your Mare ring, or my pacifiers. The Vongola Ring's Miracle of the Vertical Space-Time Axis.

"A song has been engraved in my memory from the day I was born. The sea knows no bounds. The clam passes down its form from generation to generation. The rainbow appears from time to time before fading away. Mare means sea. Vongola means clam. Arcobaleno means rainbow. Yes. This song represents the different Tri-Ni-Sette elements of Sky.

"The Mare knows no bounds and move horizontally through space and time. In another words, they move horizontally between parallel worlds. The Vongola move through the generations down the vertical space-time axis. In another words, their traditions are passed down from past to future. And the Arcobaleno never stay in one spot. They exist not as a line but as point in space and time.

"So just as Byakuran can gain knowledge and power from parallel worlds, Sawada-san is able to inherit the 'time' of the Vongola."

Giotto smiled at the girl, making Ryuuichi curious again. Things, although were going as he had knew it would, were different from the original one. Perhaps it was because of his presence there? "You are indeed correct, Sky Arcobaleno. Yet, you have missed one last detail." Yuni made a questioning sound, when Giotto turned to Ryuuichi.

"The recorder of the world, the Historian"

'Historian? What?' Ryuuichi tilted his head. He couldn't understand a single thing. "What do you mean by that, Giotto-san? And could you tell me already?" The said man chuckled. "Perhaps it's time for you to show yourself, the First Historian."

_"Geez... Just when I was having a bit of fun watching him trying to figure things out."_  The ring that was still clutched in Ryuuichi's hand glowed. When Ryuuichi opened up his palm, it was no longer flaming, but glowing in orange with tint of the rest of the rainbow colors. A man with short, dark blonde orange hair that looks like very,  _very_  light brown suddenly appeared, standing beside Ryuuichi (Surprising the heck out of the teen). His dark but striking metallic blue eyes glinted in great amusement, a small smirk plastered on his pale face. He looked a lot like Ryuuichi with short hair, which was a little bit unsettling. (No matter how they look at him, the man definitely do not look like Yuuichi. Even though Yuuichi is Ryuuichi's twin)

"Nice to meet you all."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt as though the moment with Byakuran needed to be written down to make things more... Will get more into details in the next chapter. Though, the fight with Byakuran and Tsuna will be simplified. Hopefully. it's quite tiring writing everything accordingly.
> 
> Again, I've nothing much to say on this chapter so yeah.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	43. The Historian

Alaude, for the first time in 400 years, felt a familiar warmth at the man that suddenly appeared. He can't say that it wasn't the same to the rest of the First Generation. It has, after all, been 400 years since they last saw him. Same to the man himself. He scanned all of their faces, along with the Tenth and his friends. The latter ones had something akin to shock while the former, let's just say they were blasted in nostalgia. He locked gaze with Alaude, and gave him a loopsided smile.

He broke the eye contact and turned to Ryuuichi, giving the teen a nod.

"Shiroki Ryuuichi"

The teen visibly tensed up, blinking at him with uncertainty and definitely surprise. He chuckled. "Calm down" Ryuuichi furrowed his eyebrows. He had a weird feeling coursing through him. The man seems very familiar, yet he wasn't. Ryuuichi opened his mouth once, before closing it once more, succeed at looking like a gaping fish. ".. Who are you?"

The man, very much amused, chuckled at him once again. "I'm Caelum. The First Historian"

"Ne, Ryuuichi-kun. Are you and Tsunayoshi-kun plotting something? Because I'm definitely not amused seeing your lookalikes" The said teens turned to him, Ryuuichi narrowing his gaze with an annoyed glint because Byakuran had disrupted him from asking questions. Nope. He's not happy at all. "Yeah. Your death"

Byakuran twitched at that. Before he could do anything to Ryuuichi, Caelum addressed him. "You're Byakuran, the current Mare Ring owner, yes?" He gave him a cold gaze and affirmed his question. Caelum looked directly into his eyes, metallic blue eyes glinted for a split second before he broke it off, humming. He said nothing more and turned back to Ryuuichi.

"Giotto, please continue with your task in hand" And with a snap of his finger, they're gone. Well, not exactly. They were still there, except no one could see them. Hibari was about to go havoc when Alaude stopped him. "Stop. They're alright" Hibari glared at him, but Alaude gave him a look. Similar to Dino. Alaude glanced back at the panicking blonde and gave him said look that somehow made the blonde shudder in fear.

Reborn raised an eyebrow at that. He was curious at Alaude's behavior, but Caelum intrigued him even more. He had saw the so said First Historian's eyes flashed for a moment, and he immediately remembered about the older Ryuuichi. He tilted his fedora down, shadowing his eyes. The older Ryuuichi's eyes had flashed in the exact same color as Caelum's eyes. 'Two similar yet different people.... No. Three.'

"Primo, may I know what do you mean by Historian?" Yuni asked. Giotto, without battling an eyelash, answered curtly. "The one who records the world's miracle events" He gave no chance for anyone to ask anymore and turned to Tsuna, as per told, continue with his current task. "Now, Decimo. I'm going to unleash you"

\-------------------------------------------------------

"What the-" Ryuuichi looked around him. He, and Caelum, were in this transparent sphere. The others seemed to be taken aback by their disappearance, but they didn't even moved. They were still on the same spot. Caelum smiled softly at him as he frowned.

"They can't see us. This sphere make us invisible to them, as to avoid being a distraction." Ryuuichi couldn't understand what he was saying. He had not even the slightest idea what the hell was going on but before he could ask any further, Caelum beat him to it. "Now, we'll leave your questions for later. Please wear your ring" He was not satisfied with it, but did as told, sliding the ring onto his right, middle finger.

Caelum nodded and suddenly held his hands, intertwining their fingers. He ignored Ryuuichi's flinch and held on tightly, leaning in until their forehead bumped softly. He looked into the dark brown eyes that widen a fraction. The teen tried to lean away, but Caelum's eyes froze him on his spot. The man was too close for his comfort, but for some reason, he found himself not minding it. Hell, he realized that he pressed his forehead against the man's just as hard, gripping back the pair of calloused hands. (He was quite baffled at his own reaction)

If Caelum noticed it, he said nothing about it. Instead he asked a whole different question. " _Shiroki Ryuuichi. Are you ready to hold the resolve to carry the_ ** _gift_** _and the_ ** _curse_** _of the Historian? Are you ready to accept the_ ** _truth_** _? Are you ready to accept the_ ** _light_** _and the_ ** _dark_** _respectively?_ " As he spoke, the ring on his hand glowed, as though reacting to the man's words. In fact, it was. It glowed brighter at the emphasized words, as though it was pulsing.

Ryuuichi blinked at the questions. He didn't get it. But those words sounded so familiar, as though he had both said and heard it a lot of times. The answers was at the tip of his tongue, but he could help but paused for a moment. The faces of his parents of this life, Yuuichi, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Hibari, Dino, Reborn, and on and on flashed in his mind. He didn't why they suddenly popped out, but they did. 'Is this worth it...?' His lips tugged down for a moment, still looking directly into the metallic blue eyes.

Those alluring eyes, glinted, as though he understood something. The man's eyes soften a moment.  _"Whatever you choose, will be your own destiny. Whatever you answer, is your own choice. Hold onto what you want, none will hold a grudge_ _"_ Ryuuichi saw the message and he gulped. He breathe in once, shakily, in fact.

" _Yes_ " There weren't a single hesitation, despite the loud thumping of his heart, so loud that he thought that Caelum could hear it. The man smiled softly, eyes held something akin to resignation and pride, and sadness. Ryuuichi didn't know why was he sad, but he had a hunch it might have something to do with his answer.

Nodding at his answer, Caelum closed his eyes.  _"I release you, from the restrains"_  Then, he heard as though a chain cracked and shattered. His eyes widen as he went rigid. His fingers gripped on Caelum's tightly, to the point that his knuckles turned white. Caelum, if felt hurt from the grip, said nothing of it and held on. His ring pulsing.

Ryuuichi winced and snapped shut his eyes, his head throbbing painfully as though he was hit by a hammer. He could feel something coursing through him. He saw quite a lot of things in his mind, but they disappeared as soon as they appeared. He saw something seems like pieces of memories, but before he could properly grasp it, it was gone. A tingly feeling were right at the tip of his finger, his back stung like something was going to sprout out from it, (fortunately,) nothing did. (Or did it?) There was a strange sense flowing, it felt both foreign yet familiar. He somehow knew though, that it was his. A part of him.

He bit out a painful whimper when a particular throb coursed. Caelum did nothing to help, as he, with a blank look, waited. He waited for the headache the teen was experiencing to subside a little, for him to concentrate on his next words.  _"_ ** _Through the eyes, nothing but truth is seen. Through the memories, the past are remembered. Through the soul, the power shall only be the one and only the one._** _"_

Ryuuichi calmed down, hearing Caelum's soft voice. At the back of his mind, there was another voice reciting the same words. The voice, however, was cold and monotonous, unlike Caelum's warming one. Unconsciously, he whispered out the last ones.

_"_ **_Gifted by the God of Judgement, Blessed by the Death God, The Historian shall forever be the only one balancing the world. Should the Historian cast any judgement, none but he himself can undo it. The soul of the Historian, in thy new vessel, awaken_ ** _"_

His ring stopped pulsing. And it suddenly burst out bright orange flames with a tint of sliver. His snapped his eyes open, feeling so absolute free. Like he wasn't even restrained by invisible chain before. Feeling completed. Then he felt recognition and realization. "You're.... Me?"

Caelum, smiled wryly, backing away slowly, still not letting go. "No. You knew that too, no?" True. Ryuuichi knew that he and Caelum weren't the same person. Even if they have the same soul. "Now, let's focus on our duty first, shall we?" He blinked, but narrowed his eyes and nodded. Caelum returned a nod of his own and they turned to the scene, finally letting go of the teen's hands as a loud explosion was heard.

\-------------------------------------------------------

"What's wrong, Byakuran? Reduced to a human once you lose your wings?" Tsuna taunted as he let go of the burning wings. A hysterical giggle resonated, before it turned to maniac laughter. The brunette narrowed his eyes. "This Tsunayoshi-kun is amazing! I've been to many parallel worlds, and you're the first to deal me so much damage! Man, I'm so happy! I've never expected this day to come! Why am I so happy? For the first time in my life..." Black inks splattered out from the spot that previously held the wings.

"I can finally use my full power!"

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi cringed slightly at the sight. The black inks were slightly unnerving. Especially if it's out of someone's body. Definitely not a nice sight to see. "Don't turn away. Focus. Absorb everything you see" Caelum said, his eyes not leaving the fight that was happening in front of them. The teen twitched to a pause. He indeed did wanted to turn away for a moment, but stopped short at the man's words.

"... Can I ask you something?"

"You are already asking" Ryuuichi rolled his eyes, wasn't really annoyed or anything because there was a hint of amusement in Caelum's voice. "You haven't tell me what is my duty, or what am I suppose to do now" This time, Caelum turned to him briefly before looking back.

"Blink" Ryuuichi did. Thrice, actually. The first one was out of surprise at the answer, second one was to let the so said information sink, and the last was the one told by Caelum. And when he did, his vision changed slightly. Not much to the point that there was almost no difference, but he noticed. There was a slight tint, his sight turned slightly sharper. He, could somehow, read one's body signs more than usual. (Which would be creepy to the others seeing that Ryuuichi himself is already a master on it)

"What the heck?"

"It's a gift from the God of Judgement. A gift that enables you to see true one's lies, and to determine what kind of judgement and retribution should falls on one. That, and it records the events a Historian sees or had seen" He raised an eyebrow. He was quite curious about the God of Judgement and Death God thing, and rather intrigued. Well, it wasn't everyday to see someone knowing, or had seen those mythical being that could be considered as a myth.

But instead of asking that, he questioned another rather weird question. "And said events are recorded at...?" Caelum chuckled.

"Whatever a Historian sees, it will be written in this record that only the Death God, God of Judgement, Historian and of course, the highest of those beings touch and see. No one knows where it is, let alone it's mere existence. But one thing for sure, it does exist. And to be exact, the Historian can't really see nor touch it, but they can reread the recorded information. As said, the smallest and useless information can serve to be a big piece of a puzzle"

Ryuuichi blinked. That, somehow confirmed that those mythical beings isn't exactly mythical. Though, it didn't exactly answered his questions. However, he did came to the conclusion that his task, as a Historian, is to record everything that happens in the world. Even the slightest thing. Fortunately for him, Caelum added shortly after he said nothing, the events wouldn't be permanently imprinted in his memories, unless he himself decided to remember it. Very fortunate.

(He rather not have any headache from everything he saw clumping together in his brain and form some kind of lump of, no offense, shits)

\-----------------------------------------------------

'There's an incredible amount of Dying Will Flames coming from Yuni's body' The girl was surrounded by a ring of orange flames, the pacifiers she was cradling was burning in bright Sky Flames too.

"She's begun the process of feeding her flames to the pacifiers. So you're seriously going to do it? Yuni? You're seriously going to sacrifice your life for the pacifiers." It was a statement rather than a question. Everyone knew that. But all of them couldn't accept it. How could such a young girl be so selfless, just for the sake to bring back the dead Arcobaleno? They had enough of deaths already. Even though a few of them are killers because of their profession, they, too, had enough.

Gamma, Nozaru and Tazaru, however, had it worst. Yuni is their princess. She's their ever caring and loving, late boss's daughter. She's their family. She's Gamma's...

"Wait, Yuni! You don't need to sacrifice yourself to bring back the Arcobaleno!"

"No" She softly begun. "I must revive them to ensure that you all return to the past safely. And many lives will be saved in the process. I finally had the opportunity to use my power for good. This is the only gamble I can take. One I cannot avoid. This is my fate"

(Ryuuichi clenched his fist, subconsciously gnawing his inner cheeks to stop himself from saying something stupid. A habit he had since his previous life. He was feeling anxious and worried. Yuni's sacrifice, or rather, death, is something he couldn't stop. For their sake, she rather end her life. He wanted so badly to help her, to stop her. But alas, it was out of his bound. If she, in this era, was fated to die, he couldn't do anything.)

Tsuna gritted his teeth. "I can't accept that, Yuni!" "That's right!" Byakuran was rushing towards Yuni, maniac look plastered on his face. "Don't think that I'll let you die without my permission!" Tsuna stopped the man's path, clenching his hands. "I'll never let you have Yuni!"

Byakuran clicked his tongue. "You're always getting in my way! If you insist on interfering, I'll eliminate you first!"

And they went into fighting. As they fought, the ones outside the sphere decided that they could no longer watch and had to do something. But it was no use. They couldn't break through the barrier no matter how they attacked. It was tough and strong.

Yuni had a lonely, sad gaze. She would soon be joining her mother and grandmother. Gamma's face appeared, before a skeleton of her flashed hauntingly in her mind. It scared her. Death itself scared her. It was so terrifying, that she hesitated for a moment, the ring getting smaller. Tears cascading down her cheeks, as she fell onto her knees, the fact that she was absolutely terrified of it dawned herself.

Everyone worryingly watched Yuni, not knowing what was wrong with her. Byakuran, then, hit bull-eyes. "Perhaps she's scared of dying?"

"It's okay, Yuni! We can think of another way!" She shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's fine. There's no other way" She got herself together again, forcing herself and stood, the flames grew back full blast. Just as they were distracted, Basil prepared for an All Box Weapon Combination System. The sheer amount of flames should be able to break through the barrier.

And it did when Basil's Metal Edge, but it was simply just a small crack. It was enough. It was big enough for Gamma to jump in. "Yo, Princess. Running off again after we finally meet. That's cold. My flames are yours to use." He moved forward and embraced her. "I won't let you do this alone" He softly said.

That was when Nozaru and Tazaru realized, as the youngest tried to stop their eldest brother. Gamma was going to sacrifice along with Yuni. Gamma heard his brothers' cries, but paid not much heed and focused on the girl. She was stunned. Surprised. Dumbfounded. It was clearly written on her face. Gamma smiled. "Do you remember when you whispered in my ears? I never got a chance to give you my reply." He then leaned in, and whispered into her ears.

Tears started to fell out even more, but it was out of happiness. "Hey, you shouldn't look so sad when we're about to set out. That's not what your mother taught you."

_"Yuni. You should smile from your heart if you're happy"_ Those are the words that her Mother had told her before. Her lips tugged, unable to control it. She hugged back Gamma, no longer feeling lonely. A bright light surrounded them, and when it dispersed, they're gone, their clothes fell onto the ground along with the fully fed pacifiers.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi lowered his head, giving them both a moment of silence. It wasn't a full mourning. No. Not yet. He will when all this havoc ends. He will. He tried to suppress a shudder and a sudden emptiness in him. Their passing took more blow on his heart more than he had expected. It took him all his will to not choke out the tears, but he let one fell. The tear dropped onto the ground, and he lifted his head, face stoic.

Not yet.

\----------------------------------------------------

"Gamma! Yuni!" Tsuna shouted, rushing towards the fallen clothes and pacifiers. His hands trembled, voice stuttered as he reached for the Sky Pacifier.

"Hold on a moment. What have you done? I finally found the last piece of the puzzle, and she's dead. It was all for nothing. My dream of awakening the Tri-Ni-Sette and become the ruler of all space and time was shattered by your little act of friendship. Do you... Do you understand what this means?!"

Disbelief took over, dread, grief and then rage. Rage burned in him, as if it was over-boiling. It was. It even overflowed. How dare Byakuran. How dare he talk about Yuni as though she was nothing but a chess piece, to be thrown after usage. How dare he had the audacity to even think like that. Byakuran, Tsuna wouldn't forgive him. He wouldn't. Not for what he had done. He clenched the pacifier, his flames flared, throwing Byakuran back.

A strong hurricane was formed with the brunette in the center. His words were laced with deep rage. "Why do you think Yuni had to do this? You ruined our world. That's why Yuni.... That's why Yuni died!" He turned fully to Byakuran. His eyes narrowed, tears at the corner of his eyes. "Byakuran! I... I won't forgive you!!" His eyes widen in rage, glowing as his glove shone. The waves caused by the flames were so strong that the sphere started to crack.

Poor, stupid Byakuran, to not take it seriously. "You won't forgive me? Oh?" He laughed. "What nonsense. You're such a joke. I might understand your reaction if you viewed her as a powerful tool. After all, Yuni was a super item that would help me become an omnipotent god! But you treated Yuni like an ordinary girl! Your desire to attack me is but a temporary rush of humanistic emotion! An expression of self-satisfaction! If that's the best answer you've got in this selfish society of humans, then you fail hard!" He flared his flames to, the cracks increasing.

"Individual desires will trump collective hypocrisy every time! That's the world we live in!" His legs started buldging and strings shot out to the ground. Tsuna, on the other hand, muttered "Operation X" They both were intending to finish it at one go. There was no point on denying that if they don't, they might not last long. They, after all, had fought for quite a long time.

A black whirlpool formed on Byakuran's hand. "Your actions served no purpose! That girl and the pacifiers were the best toy I've ever had!" "Stop insulting Yuni! Byakuran! You're going down!" The barrier cracked even further, going to shatter in matters of time. And they trusted out their flames, yelling.

Their flames met half way, but it was quite clear that Tsuna was winning. (At least to Reborn and Ryuuichi, seeing that the brunette's flame were going to swallow the black flames. The flames got stronger and stronger to the point that the ground shook and cracked. With one last yell, Tsuna's flames overpowered Byakuran's.

\----------------------------------------------------

"Is it possible for me to punch a dead psychopath?" Caelum burst out in laughter. "No, unfortunately" Ryuuichi shrugged, somehow disappointed. He was no doubt angered by Byakuran's words, but he chose to push it aside. Byakuran would be learning his lessons after all.

A crater was craved on the ground, the previous spot which Byakuran was standing had only the Mare Ring, the man himself wasn't. Not really. Ryuuichi blinked in surprise. There was this orange glow with slight black tint floating. Apparently, only he and Caelum can see it. The glow drifted to him, passing through the transparent shield and stopped in front of him.

"Hah?"

"That's Byakuran's soul" He whipped his head to Caelum in shock, his hands below the glow. "What?" The man chuckled. "It's your job to place a path for this soul. For it to drift for years and years, or for it to reincarnate, it is up to you" Ryuuichi was surprised. He didn't know that he had to do this. Then again, he didn't know what to do other than watching the moments currently. He looked back at the glow, hesitant and not sure.

A part of him wanted to let it drift in void and nothingness, but another part of him wanted it to reincarnate. He stayed silent for a moment, his hands reached to the black tint on the glow and grabbed it. The glow was warm, but the black tint, however, was cold and horrific. He pursed his lips and pull it out.

"It'll reincarnate. No memories or whatsoever, please. I rather not deal with another psychopath like this era's Byakuran. A complete new person" The glow pulsed for a moment before bursting into sparks, dispersing.

"Well, aren't you kind" Caelum gave him a loop-sided smile, which he snorted, saying nothing about it. "So I have to do this every time someone dies..?" For some reason, he felt awful at that thought. Much to his relief, Caelum shook his head. "No, you don't have to. You'll only do it if you're the one casting a judgement on someone. The Mare kid was an exception"

"Why?"

"Because it's a task given to you by the Death God" Now, that was mind blowing. Ryuuichi's jaw slacken, almost hitting the ground. Well, not literally, of course. Seeing that he was speechless, Caelum continued. "Currently, you're the one who knew the best what to do with the soul. As I've said, unless you're the one who killed or cast a judgement, that person's soul will go to the Death God for it's path. But in this case, the Death God felt that you're more suited to determine where it should go."

"So you're telling me that you've just talked to the Death God?" Again, Caelum burst out laughing. He simply smirked and waved his hand, taking down you the shield and disappearing. "Don't you have something you've been wanting to do? Go on. I'll talk to you in a few more"

Ryuuichi blinked, the tint on his sight disappeared. Just as he suddenly appeared on the other's sight, a bright light shone from the pacifiers, and a certain Arcobaleno's voice was heard.

"You pulled it off, Sawada, Kora!" They appeared, pacifiers glowing. Colonello was holding Yuni's pacifiers, which was also glowing. The strongest infants, The Arcobaleno, has came back to life. It was somehow, a heartfelt reunion for most of them. Except that Reborn had actually glared at Skull who shouted at him when he reprimanded them for being late.

"We know everything that happened. Since Yuni was using flames to communicate with us when we were in our pacifiers" Fon continued Colonello, explaining everything and that seeing that the Mare Ring had lost it's owner, everything Byakuran did in every parallel world has been erased. Every wrongdoings of Byakuran, will disappear without a trace.

Ryuuichi practically tuned it out until Fon talked about sealing the Mare Ring in the past, their era, for eternity. He raised an eyebrow, when the Storm Arcobaleno turned to him. "I believe you have something to say, Historian?" The twinkle and smile on Fon's face somehow told him that he knew about the Historian.

He gave back a small smile. Gokudera, Yamamoto, Tsuna, and practically everyone else looked at him. "Ryuu..." He could practically hear questions in Yamamoto's voice. Why he hadn't lend a hand, why he hadn't help, why he suddenly disappear and all. He lowered his face, bangs shadowing his eyes slightly.

"... I'm sorry, but I won't apologize for not lending a hand. I know some of you may resent me for this, and I won't blame you for it, but I'll make it clear that I've never had the intention to even interfere in anything ever since the beginning

"But..... Even so... Please, at least let me do this" His hands glowed in yellow before growing bigger and bigger, to the point that it covered and blinded all of them. They flinched, suspecting an attack, but instead, a warm feeling wrapped around them. Instead, they felt rather refreshed and recovered. Their injuries, even broken bones, were gone, as if they hadn't had it in the first place.

When the light dispersed and their sights came back to them, Ryuuichi had his eyes closed, falling onto the ground. "Ryuuichi!" Before he fell face first on the ground, Hibari grabbed onto him. The others gather around him, calling out for him but he was unconscious.

(He felt absolutely tired for using that much Sun Flames at one go, but it was something he wanted to do. He had done nothing at all, so he felt that this was the only thing he could do at the moment. And the last thing he felt before he fell into slumber, was a pair of warm arms around him)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The truth will be out in the next chapter for sure.
> 
> I think this one was more towards Ryuuichi's first time as a Historian..? Hmmm.
> 
> Also, who's up for Gamma as Yuni's father? *raise hand* Me!  
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	44. The Truth

Ryuuichi with half lidded eyes looked at his surrounding. He was, yet again, in plain darkness. For the nth time. Somehow, he couldn't find the energy to even sigh as he simply stood in the middle of void. Strangely enough, he didn't exactly mind in this darkness. He didn't like it, but he didn't hate it either. He was feeling... Neutral for some reason.

He looked down at himself, and found that he was wearing a long, white sleeved shirt with a pair of grey trousers, barefooted. How he was wearing that, he didn't want to no. No thanks.

"A penny for your thought?" A voice resonated, breaking the silence. He looked up and saw Caelum smiling, walking towards him with his hands shoved into the pocket of his rather white trousers. The man's white T-shirt made him look like a saint, yet Ryuuichi knew better than naming him a saint. (A devil would rather suit him instead)

He stopped in front of him, tilting his head slightly. "Still exhausted?" Ryuuichi blinked, couldn't comprehend the questions, or rather, statement. He said nothing for a moment, but Caelum didn't seem to mind as the man waited for his reply. ".. I think..?" The teen's motors finally kicked in, feeling more and more aware as seconds passed.

"I mean... Yeah. I am. A bit.. Not really anymore.. Wait--" He frowned, stopping his rambles mid sentence. Caelum chuckled with great amusement. "It's kind of obvious, actually" Ryuuichi rolled his eyes, finally could function properly. "Right... Can I ask already?" When Caelum nodded, he suddenly found himself unable to speak as questions tumbled in his mind. There were so many of it, that he didn't no where to begin. He frowned once more.

"How did- No. Tell me from the beginning. Why am I here?" He meant by why he was transferred here, in this world. How, is another one that followed quickly.

Caelum hummed, as though he was musing how to explain to him, which was an obvious act. The man was just putting up a stupid play for suspense. To which Ryuuichi wasn't even a little bit impressed as he was given a deadpanned stare. "Well, the question should be why you were born in your previous life"

Caelum smiled somehow leaned back onto a wall that Ryuuichi never knew it was there, watching Ryuuichi giving him a weird look. "You belong here. I mean, your soul, our soul, belong in this dimension, this world. Perhaps I should explain the core first.

"The Historian Ring has only one owner and only one. No other people can use it. As you've known that I'm the First one, I was it's owner."

Ryuuichi didn't exactly understand as he looked at the ring on his finger. If it only has one owner, then why was he able to use it? He looked up as Caelum continued. "If you were thinking that it chooses it's owner by the vessel and flames, then you're wrong. The Historian Ring chooses it's owner through the soul. In another word, we are the owner."

"Is it because.. We've the same soul?" A nod was his reply. "Yes. I'm not sure if it has any other owner before me, but I was the rightful one, we are. And it has been for 400 years"

"So... That's what you meant by 'in thy new vessel'?"

"You caught on fast. And yes. When I die in my first vessel, my soul, our soul, drifted into a new body, reincarnate, if you know what I mean. The ring would somehow find it's way to the new body, and reclaim it's rightful place on the Historian's vessel. Our soul had changed vessels for 10 times, including mine and excluding your current one. And each time, we'll be reincarnated in this dimension. Until you, of course

"I'm not exactly sure what happened during the tenth transference to a new body, but you were reincarnated in another dimension. It was not possible to immediately transfer you back to this dimension without causing damage on the soul and the vessel. So I had to wait until you're 16 years of age before transferring."

Ryuuichi huffed silently, trying to process everything. "Then why was my memories of my past, no. My previous life, still with me?" Caelum smile held an mischievous edge. "It was a hunch. I've a feeling that it would be better if I leave your memories untouched. Besides, you haven't live enough in your previous life."

".... Then how come I'm born as a girl there..?" A shrug. "No idea. It was strange, seeing that the historians has been in male vessels ever since the beginning. A new experience, probably"

Ryuuichi face-palmed, sighing. It was no wonder he, or rather, she, felt as though she should have been born as a boy, rather than a girl. She had somehow suspected that she had been a he in her past life, but well, that was all just theory. Now? He knew that it was all true. How cliche. Not.

"So I'm... I should've been born here in the first place? This is where I truly belong?"

"You belong in where your heart truly is, where your soul truly wanted" He slowly nodded. Finally,  _finally_ , he could say that he really  _truly_  belong here. His yearn and want to be here forever was the prove. It was like a weight was lifted from his shoulder. Caelum tilted his head, and waved his hands.

The darkness changed into a vast greenery, trees were huge creating shades, the wind was blowing softly. They were both standing in this open space, the grass rustling lightly to the wind. Ryuuichi looked around in awe of the beauty. "Where are we?" Caelum hummed in satisfaction and moved to one of the trees and sat down on the ground, leaning on the tree bark. "A scene from my memories. France, to be exact"

Raising an eyebrow at that, Ryuuichi followed Caelum and sat beside him. "You're from France?" 

"Ah, yeah. Anyway, enough about me. Any other questions?" He frowned, wanting to ask some more, but he has a whole lot more question. Complying, he shot another question. "Then can you tell me the Historian? Full?" The man nodded.

"Hmm.. The First Historian, I, had my flames awaken by blood. Had a dream after the first night, met both said Death God and God of Judgment who the former 'blessed' me and the latter 'gifted' me. The blessing from Death God is to bring those who's time is up to 'afterlife', which wasn't much. The God of Judgement, however, gifted me the ability to judge, as so said, and to bring just. Balance, was more important. They wanted the world to balance somehow, alongside with the Tri-Ni-Sette of course, so they worked together and... Let's just say they chose me for who knows what reason. The other duty the Historian have, as you've known, was to record the events and histories of the world. So given the name, the Historian. That was the duty both the Death God and God of Judgement given to me at the same time. Nothing can be said unless proven with a solid prove, of course.

"And yeah, I allied with the Vongola and spent my life working with them until the rise of Secondo. I went off when Giotto stepped down, traveled with Alaude."

"Whoah wait. Alaude-san?"

"Yes. Alaude. The same Alaude who looked like that friend of yours. Continuing, I died on my first vessel and was reborn the next. I had half my memories with me. I asked Sepira to seal them and to not reawaken it, but somehow in the middle of my life in the second vessel, I had sealed my all of memories, so that when I was reborn again, I won't remember anything. Each life, however, wasn't who I was in my first. Like you, we're similar, but we're different. Despite having the same soul, we are practically different people."

Sepira... Sepira was Yuni's ancestor, and a Shaman. And the same kind as Kawahira. He wondered how Sepira have the ability to seal of one's memories. Then again, one's flames could be seal, so it wasn't much a surprise anymore. Not really. "Then how do the next Historian after you, know about their duties?"

"They don't. Until they are of age, of course. I would ask them the same question I asked you, and awaken them. But not the memories. Never the memories"

Speaking of memories... "There was a time I had nightmares where there are screams and pleads... Are those your... memories..?" A sad, sorrowful look fell on Caelum's face. His eyes dulled, pain whirling in them. The man looked away, staring at anything but Ryuuichi as a thoughful facade plastered on. "Yeah... I had actually asked Sepira to forever seal that piece of memory, but I don't know why she asked the current Sky Arcobaleno in your time to unlock it. There was no need for you to see it." Caelum frowned. "I've resealed it though. So you don't have to worry much about it.

"Moving on," Ryuuichi furrowed his eyebrows. He could tell that Caelum had suffered much. From what he had heard, the awakening by blood, sounded more than it seems. He doubt that it has anything to do with a magic circle, candles and dripping his own blood on the circle in attempt to somehow summon who knows what, a three-headed monster probably? Okay he's straying. But all in all, he knew that Caelum hadn't end his own suffering.

"The Historian Ring. It was actually a ring from my uncle. Before he passed away when I was twelve, he gave me the ring, saying that I should be the rightful owner to it" The man finally glanced back at him, but more pointedly towards the ring, frown still on his face. "I've no idea why he says like that though. That, and whatever he knew, was beyond me. However, the ring attached on our soul. It locked our soul to this dimension, preventing straying to another dimension. Again, don't ask me how did your case happen. I don't know much about the ring's ability to do that, and there wasn't anyone briefing me about it.

"And miraculously, the ring would appear once the Historian in their new vessel is of age, as I've said before" The younger raised his hand which had the ring on. It fitted on his middle finger snugly and perfectly. If it chooses it's owner by their soul, then it was no wonder Yuuichi couldn't wear it. Then, he remembered something.

"If the Death God and the God of Judgement wanted you to bring justice, in a sense, then what's the point of having Vindice?"

Caelum smirked. "That was the point. Somehow a year after my debut in the mafia with Giotto and his guardians, Vindice approached me. Openly. So you can imagine the surprise and chaos that happened. Vindice and I, came up with an oath. The Historian will forever allies themselves with the Vindice until all of them cease from existence, helping them to maintain the law. There are a few things the Historian couldn't interfere, however, was that the punishment Vindice had placed cannot be reversed. Though,  _though_ , in exchange, the Historian can change the fate of the one who is caught before the punishment was place.

"So it was like, things will go through me first before to Vindice."

Ryuuichi rubbed his temple. So that's how his older self managed to get Vindice as ally. But if that was the case, then his older self had knew the truth? "No, your older self didn't know the truth." Caelum interjected his growing turmoil, surprising the teen with his mind reading. Caelum chuckled.

"I can't read your mind. It was written on your face. Your older self rejected when I wanted to tell him the truth, saying that he'd rather  _you_  know it first. He had suspected as much though, and Vindice knew somehow about his truth and allied themselves with him" Caelum grunted. He hadn't really like the mafia police, but he didn't particularly hate them. They go with the evidence, that's what matter.

"Speaking of allies. I was allied with Giotto and his Guardians, and those who carries their will, Cozarto Shimon and those who carries  _his_  will, and lastly, Vindice. I believe, that you'll do the same, no? With the new addition of Cavallone" Ryuuichi had thought of that before. However, he wasn't sure that he would reveal it at the moment. He simply sighed, saying nothing to it.

"So I can interfere in things?"

"If they are fated for it, no matter how you interfere, the results will always be the same. So in another word, yes. You can interfere."

Then, they stayed in silence with Ryuuichi lost in his thoughts again. Caelum had answered his questions. He believed that he had more, but he just couldn't seem to remember the questions. And now that he knew about the truth behind everything, he felt he could let go now. Of his past. He still wanted to cling on it, though. But there was a big part of him wanted it to be release. Fully.

"... Then about my past life? What would happen?"

"Your vessel there died." His heart dropped slightly. He wondered if his friends and family there would be devastated. He didn't really like that.

".. Can you do me a favor? Please?" He asked, almost begging. Caelum waited, saying nothing but he was going to comply. "Please... Erase everyone's memories about me, anything about me. Erase my very existance from that world." He knew that was selfish of him, but he didn't want anyone there mourn, or be sad. Or anything along the line. He hated that when he was the cause of anyone's sadness.

Caelum, somehow could understand, agreed. He gently stroked his on the head, warmly. "I will do so" Ryuuichi gave him a small, broken smile, whispering lowly gratitude. The man returned a smile of his own, before standing up, giving him a hand. "I believe it's time for you to wake up. You're making your friends worry"

Ryuuichi blinked owlishly and took the hand, hoisting him up. He nodded stiffly, remembering the others. They'll be going back to their time. Yuuichi. Right. Yuuichi. He needed to find Yuuichi.

"Ryuuichi." He looked up, into the dark metallic blue eyes. "Do not ever ponder about my past. There's no need for you to worry. You live in the present, and I shall forever stay in the past. Remember, my successor. You are your own person" Suddenly feeling sleepy again, energy disappearing, he couldn't answer. He frowned, eyes glazed. "Wake now. Your friends and families are waiting" And his eyes closed.

\------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna had been into Ryuuichi's room a few times, to check on him. The first and second time, the teen hadn't wake up. To his surprise, however, Dino and Hibari were there. The older sat beside the bed, tapping on his phone while the prefect sat at the opposite. It occurs him that they had never left Ryuuichi's side ever since they transported him to his room. Perhaps Hibari's action could be understandable, but Dino? He never knew Dino was that close to Ryuuichi. That never really dawn him until now.

The third time, he went with Gokudera and Yamamoto. Reborn was there too. The hitman perched himself on Ryuuichi's bed, talking to Dino when they came in. "Reborn?" The brunette blinked. Now that he think about it, Reborn was intrigued by Ryuuichi. To what extend, he didn't know. But Tsuna understood the underlying of the interest. Reborn had taken Ryuuichi as a family of sort, as how the hitman had taken Tsuna and the others as family. The hitman might haven't realize that, nor would he admit it, but the brunette realized that he did. He himself too, had taken all of them as a family despite not having any blood relation. That is one thing he would never deny.

"Oh. You guys are here" Tsuna wasn't exactly surprise that Reborn sounded like he knew they would be coming. No. He wasn't. That, and he wasn't going to question how exactly the Arcobaleno knows. He rather not put himself in danger from Reborn. He like his current, safe zone, thank you very much. (As if he was safe from the sadistic hitman anyway)

Reborn turned around when he picked up soft rustling. He knew that Hibari heard it too, seeing that the prefect twitched and opened one eye from his spot. He could see a frown forming as Ryuuichi's hands twitched. A groan escaped the teen's lips, finally catching Dino, Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto's attention as they gathered around Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi slowly cracked open his eyes, only to close it again from the brightness. He had to wait until his vision cleared, and he saw the ceiling. He blinked, wondering where he was. He was talking to Caelum, but then he felt absolutely sleepy and succumbed to it. 'Ah right.' He then remembered everything. "Ryuuichi, are you alright?" He turned his head, absently noting that his neck was stiff as heck. "Yeah" His croaked, voice hoarse.

He frowned, still feeling tired. Still, he pushed himself up. Dino had helped him up, as he settled by the head rest of the bed with pillows behind him. He thanked him and Reborn when the latter handed him a glass of water. ".... Why do I felt like I've been through this before..?" The trio cracked a smile, while Dino simply chuckled. Reborn had an amused smirk on as Hibari silently snorted. Yes. He had noticed the prefect when he was sitting up.

"So, what happened?"

"You fell unconscious after you healed everyone with your Sun Flame, Ryuuichi" Tsuna answered. The said teen nodded, finally remembering it. And Reborn smacked him on the head, much to his and the others dismay. "That was a reckless move, Baka-Ryuu."

Ryuuichi pouted, but then grinned sheepishly at the newly gained nickname. He didn't really mind it for some reason. "Sorry..." Reborn nodded and settled on his lap, narrowing his eyes at him. The hitman was sizing him up. "Explain  _now_ , Baka-Ryuu" He winced at the emphasis, but slowly nodded. He motioned the standing trio to take a sit before he begin.

"Have you heard of the Historian, Reborn?"

"Yes, I have. The Historian is the one who supported the rise of the Vongola Familgia along with Vongola Primo and his guardian. They, however, hadn't done much to create a huge news so they were said to be a myth" Ryuuichi rubbed the back of his neck. "The thing is, it wasn't exactly a myth." He sighed.

"The thing is, the Historian do exist, and I'm the current one."

"Wait, what is the Historian  _exactly_?" Tsuna interjected. Dino turned to the brunette and explained his knowledge about the Historian. "The Historian is said to be the one who holds the deepest and darkest part of the whole world's past. Even the most well hidden secret. But as Reborn had said, the Historian's existence was said to be a myth." The brunette's jaw dropped. He could feel his best friends' surprise too.

"That doesn't really answer the fact that you knew about things" Reborn sharply said. He meant by the knowledge Ryuuichi knew about things that would happen, and the results to it. It doesn't answer that anyhow so.

"About that... Can I hold it off a bit longer..? At least, until I deem it's okay..? Please" Ryuuichi wasn't sure if Reborn would accept that. He knew that the hitman was dying to know. He knew that, Reborn knew he told the Yuni of this era. It was suspense to Reborn, and the hitman absolutely hate not knowing things. Ryuuichi knew that very well.

Reborn sighed, grunted in agreement and jumped off. "Get ready. We'll be off to our time in an hour"

Ryuuichi blinked as the Arcobaleno walked off. 'Right. Back. Yuuichi' And he was promptly fussed by Tsuna and the others.

"Ryuuichi! We didn't know you have Sky Flames!" Well, shoot.

\------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, everybody's here. It's almost time to go, but I'll need you to leave the Vongola Boxes here" Shoichi said. Tsuna and the others were not happy to part with their partners, but they couldn't take them back, seeing that the box weapon haven't been created in their time.

Ryuuichi, however, wasn't so sad about it. He won't be parting with them after all. He smiled and stroked both Kuro and Shiro. They were sad, since they didn't know. He then remembered about the other box weapon and took it out. He looked at it for a moment, then towards the panther cubs, and back to the box. Deciding he would at least look at it, he injected Sky Flames into the orange box weapon, and it glowed. A ball of flame appeared out of it, and a grayish white wolf pup. He blinked at the grey eyes creature, and accidentally released a small squeal.

He absolutely like wolves, that was one thing he would definitely admit. He had like wolves since he was young, and that stayed the same. Basically, he was obsessed with them and giant cats. Can't do without the giant cats. Definitely. Unfortunately, he had never seen a real wolf in flesh, nor panthers, so it was mind boggling.

"Sora. You'll be Sora" The wolf howled cutely, agreeing with the name. Sora looked towards Kuro and Shiro, and the three of them immediately became best friends. How adorable.

"U-umm... Ryuuichi-kun..?" The said teen snapped out of his reverie and looked up. They were all staring at him. He laughed nervously and stood, nodding at Shoichi.

"Then, I'll start the time warp. Since it'd take forever to finish saying our goodbyes. The Arcobaleno will return as soon as they're finished sealing the Mare Rings. Then.." Shoichi paused when Tsuna called out to him. "U-uh.. Well.." He could understand what the brunette wanted to say as his eyes soften. "Thank you very much" He softly said. The brunette looked up, with the same look on his face. "Goodbye"

"Time warp, start!" A bright light surrounded them, and they disappeared. A moment later, the older selves of those who had gone back to their rightful time appeared. Vongola Decimo, Tsuna, had went up first while the others started sizing up Ryuuichi.

"E-e-ehhh Guys--..?"

\------------------------------------------------------

The past Mare Rings were sealed, the memories of those who had fought with them were passed to their significant younger selves, and lastly their partners.

Ryuuichi blinked when he landed on his bed with a thud. He looked around, he was in his room. He glanced at the digital clock and stared at the date and year a little longer. He was definitely back in the past. Their era. He heard soft growling and looked down, to see a black bracelet with a shape of a wolf and two panthers on his left wrist, beside his black watch. He smiled softly, even though he had no idea why his was in form of a bracelet. He then proceeded to take off his watch, the bracelet and the Historian Ring and placed them gently on his table. He hurriedly walked out of his room and slammed Yuuichi's door open. He had only been gone for only a few hours, so Yuuichi wouldn't be awake this early. He made a small mental note to throw the note away later, but first...

"W-wha- Ryuu?" Yuuichi sounded so sleepy, but he couldn't careless. He felt an overwhelming feeling swell as he grinned stupidly. 'I'm back' He leaped, jumping onto his brother.

"Yuuuuuuuu!!!" And he proceeded to cuddle the hell out of his brother, not listening to any protest at all.

(Unknown to Ryuuichi, the words on the Historian Ring glinted. ' _The eyes of the selfless_ ')

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE FUTURE FINAL BATTLE ARC ENDS! FINALLY!
> 
> GOD THE FUTURE ARC IS SO DAMN LONG EIWOVHREOUIHFODSAHDSAI
> 
> And the truth is out!! I think it's a bit confusing, but whatever~
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi had more than one flame, as all of you have known. And his dominant flame, is the Sky flame. Cloud and Sun came closely. Rain as the next, followed by Mist. Storm and Lightning are the weakest. [Current me= He never used the those flames other than Sky, Cloud and Sun tho.]
> 
> The next chapter will be like the break part. Like, writing serious things tires me out for some reason. Need something to calm the atmosphere down. Yeah.
> 
> Ryuuichi finally let go of things! Yay! (lol)
> 
> I had Ryuuichi's box weapon on a bracelet because, well, too much ring. Too clustered. Too... Messy. So no thanks.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	45. Hell Fury

It has been a few weeks after the future fight ended, and it has only been days since Ryuuichi finally,  _finally_ , not cling onto Yuuichi 24/7. And a few weeks before the beginning of the next Arc, as Ryuuichi had noticed. He was eating with Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto on the roof top, enjoying the fresh air from the stuffy classroom. Yuuichi was dragged away by his teammates, much to his brother's dismay, but Ryuuichi let him eat with his friends, seeing that he had been hogging him for quite a while.

As he munched on his food, made by his beloved brother, while listening to the trio chat, he thought back on everything that had happened. He still couldn't believe that he hold such a position in this world, but he knew that it was very true. (He honestly didn't need anymore stabbing on the side as an attempt to see if he was dreaming, thank you very much.) He then remembered random little things so far. He was like in another world when he ended up in the same class with the others as second years. He was busy with this archery competition his coach had forced him to participate and was away when Nezu tried to expel the others.

He got a little pissed remembering the rat, and quickly diverted his thought elsewhere. He remembered interrogate Hibari about the mysterious fact why the prefect hadn't graduate since he knew his age, but it backfired. In a sense that would left Hibari's fangirls fainting from blood lost. Not literally, though. Ryuuichi pushed back the urge to blush at the memory, and shook his head. Honestly, his hormones are getting to him now that he's back to being the typical hormonal teenager's phase.

"Come to think of it, Ryuuichi has never really get angry, right?" Tsuna suddenly said, snapping Ryuuichi out of his train of thought. Somehow, Yamamoto's face went solemn, which was surprising enough to see on the happy-go-lucky teen when there wasn't any danger lurking around.

"He has." Dread and horror was clearly written on Yamamoto's face, making Gokudera and Tsuna sweated. "What's with that reaction..." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at Yamamoto, pouting lightly as he bit onto the sweet egg roll. He did, years ago. He can't exactly remember what triggered it, but he blew his top and no one dared to look at him in the eyes for almost a week. It was something that most wouldn't talk about, but Gokudera and Tsuna was very interested.

"Really?!" "Details!" He sweated as they tried to squeeze information out of Yamamoto. Yamamoto, still had the horrified face, visibly shuddered at the memories and shook his head frantically, not wanting to say it. It was still too much to him. "Takeshi..." He stiffen at the first name usage and robotically turned to Ryuuichi, who was giving him a deadpan stare.

Ryuuichi blinked at the reaction and sighed, barely noting that he got tenser, shrugging. He felt that if he say anything more, Yamamoto might turn into a ghost seeing that the tall teen got paler by seconds. "Nothing" He turned away, suddenly realizing that he had used Yamamoto's first name. It kind of slipped, but he wanted to call him that. "Can I call you Takeshi, by the way?"

Amazingly, that had broke the teen's tension and the usual grin slipped back onto his face. "Sure!" (How he was able to switch mood so fast was beyond them all)

Gokudera gritted his teeth in annoyance and jealousy. He wanted to know about the details to Ryuuichi's anger, and he certainly didn't like it when Yamamoto was the only one who knows about it. He clicked his tongue, thinking of ways to force the teen to speak. Tsuna, on the other hand, had to suppress a shudder when a bad feeling dawned him.

And then Reborn kicked him from the back of his head and landed perfectly in the middle of them. Right. Of course. Reborn. "Let's try and make Ryuuichi angry then, seeing that everyone's so curious about it"

"NO!" "YES!" At this point, Ryuuichi had given up any logical thoughts on why this was happening as he kept his lunch box. "Everyone must participate and finish the task before school ends or.." The underlying threat was as clear as daylight to them, but Yamamoto was still reluctant to do it. But even he's unwilling to be the one greeting the punishment, so he gave in. He would just have to suffer no matter what he choose, would he.

A loud sigh was heard as they saw Ryuuichi standing up. "Well, whatever. However, I must say, annoy or irritate me is easy, but it would take one a thousand tries to anger me." A taunting smirk was seen before he walked out of the roof top. Once the door was close, he snickered and shook his head. He feel he would be laughing more than he would be angered.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"Ryuu? Of course he gets angered before. He's not a robot" Tsuna winced a little at the nonchalant tone of the said teen's brother as Yuuichi wiped his sweat, leaning against a wall. They were having P.E at the moment, and they had to run tracks. Yuuichi and Tsuna, and a few others students ran first before Ryuuichi, Gokudera and Yamamoto along with the rest ran. Yuuichi was staring at his brother, who was talking to Yamamoto and Gokudera as they ran. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed Ryuuichi looked a little bit too amused. "Well, yeah.. But do you know what triggered it?" At that, he stiffly turned to the brunette, hand with his towel paused on his neck.

"You... Want to anger Ryuu?" If anything, Yuuichi looked more terrified than Yamamoto. It took every ounce of the brunette's guts not to back out of this. He rather not suffer Reborn's spartan punishment, which probably involved explosion and shooting. "U-umm.. I'm just interested...." He felt as though he had taken the wrong decision at Yuuichi's next reaction.

"NO! NONONO! Don't! Don't ever,  _ **ever**_ , try to anger Ryuuichi without any good excuse!" Yuuichi had all but shouted, gaining some of their classmates' attention.

"B-but.." "Just, no, Okay?!" Okay he's hyperventilating a bit. Was that really necessary? "The hell are you guys talking about?" One very curious Ryuuichi with sweat on his forehead approached them. Tsuna jumped a little when the teen appeared, with a dejected Gokudera and a still pale Yamamoto tailing.

"O-o-oh! Ryuu! You done?! That's fast!" Ryuuichi raised his eyebrow at that, and looked at Tsuna, then looked back at Yuuichi. He put two and two together and 'Oh'. Ryuuichi smirked internally, but kept a confused face. He almost burst out in laughter, though. Fortunately he didn't. He walked to his water bottle and finished it in one go. He was feeling quite thirsty. After all, he did talked and ran at the same time with Gokudera and Yamamoto.

Both of them were beginning their attempt to anger him, with Gokudera threatening him to beat the living hell out of him, and Yamamoto threatening to steal Yuuichi away. Yamamoto had the luck to trigger him a little, but not much so he with a very,  _very_ , sweet smile told Yamamoto that he would 'bite him to death' if he did. (Yes, he used Hibari's term because yes, he would be literally biting Yamamoto to death if he did. Well, not actually to death because he knew that Yamamoto wouldn't dare to do anything to his brother, let alone hurt him) That, had the teen stumble and frozen for a millisecond. Even Gokudera paled a little. (Ryuuichi, was mildly aware that Reborn was filming everything somewhere)

Little do they know, Ryuuichi was actually laughing like a mad man internally.

Deciding that he would have a little more fun, he kept up the act. "So, mind telling me? I'm curious" Ryuuichi tilted his head to give a little more effect, to which Yuuichi stuttered and stumbled with his words. "U-u-um! We're just talking about- about... Hibari! Yeah! We're talking about Hibari!"

"Huh. What about Hibari?"

"Y-you see.. That is.. E-ehh.. Hibari seems to be quite merciful these days, n-no?" Ryuuichi hummed, nodding slightly. True, the prefect had been quite kind these days. Perhaps it was because they had came back to his beloved, peaceful Namimori? Well, Ryuuichi didn't know. He did know, however, that Hibari would stare at him for who-knows-what-bloody-reason whenever he stumbled across the prefect. It unnerved him.

"Is that so..." Yuuichi nodded frantically, quickly pushed himself away from the wall and walked away, pulling Ryuuichi along. "L-let's go! We'll be late for the next class if we don't change now!" Tsuna and Gokudera exchanged looks while Yamamoto, remained pale.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, Ryuuichi would like to take back whatever his thoughts about this would be amusing. It's hilarious to see them try, yes, but not when Hibari was dragged in. Ryohei was to participate too. Damn Reborn had told them to join, with a secret prize if they managed to anger him. Ryuuichi had no desire to know what the secret prize is, for he had a very bad feeling about what Reborn had planned.

First, in class, they were having free period since the teachers were having a sudden meeting, so Gokudera and Tsuna tried again. They tried throwing things at him, shouting at him for no particular reason, threaten to gouge his eyeballs out, and tried to carry him bridal-style. Well, Gokudera did. (He had no idea how would carrying him like that would make him angry. Seriously, what was going on in Gokudera's mind) Tsuna had tried pushing him out of his chair, and kicked him. Yamamoto, timidly if he might add, tried to pull him into a headlock, choking him outright, only to stop when Ryuuichi did nothing to push him away.

He amusingly watched them silently, but made no move to stop them. They were, surprisingly, tensed just by a simple look. It was his normal poker face, and he had no idea why they would flinch from it. Probably because those things they did would usually annoys people, but he had showed no reaction. When Tsuna tried his last attempt, by pulling him up by his collar and shouting like a gangster, he had pulled the brunette down to his lap, causing him straddling him. (Honestly, Tsuna's gangster facade looked more like a kitten who ate lemon by accident)

"Heh~ So you want to kill me?" He smirked, one hand tilting Tsuna's chin up, looking into his eyes while the other rubbed the brunette's lower back. Tsuna looked absolutely like a tomato, as he tried to push him away. He kept his arms around the brunette, careful not to let go of him just in case he fell down onto the ground. "How about I kiss you first?" He asked lowly, leaning in.

"H-hieeee!!!" And he pecked the brunette's forehead. He backed away, took a good look at Tsuna's burning face before turning away, body shaking of laughter. He tried to keep it in, but ended up bursting out loud, letting go of Tsuna. Tsuna immediately scrambled out of his lap and hid behind both Gokudera and Yamamoto. The latter two were sporting red faces too. In fact, most of his classmate were. Especially the girls. Yuuichi was looking at him as though he had grew another head, but even his face were red.

He stifled his laughter to a stop, breathing loudly to get oxygen back into his lungs. "Well, that was fun" He chuckled again.

(The whole time, his classmates were looking at him and the trio, as they kept rilling Ryuuichi up for no particular reason. Those who had seen him riled up, had long ran away while the rest watched with curiosity. They've absolutely no idea what happened, because all of them had blinked and in split second, Tsuna was on Ryuuichi's lap, with the latter somehow.. seducing him? God, they didn't knew Ryuuichi was this, seductive.)

Suddenly, the doors were slammed open. Yes. Doors. The front door, stood a certain prefect. The back, stood a panting boxer. They scanned the silent as grave yard classroom, and two pairs of eyes landed on Ryuuichi. The teen blinked in surprise when they stomped to him and stood up.

"Senpa-" He was just about to greet them when Ryohei suddenly yelled. "EXTREME GREETINGS, RYUUICHI!" And a right hook was given to Ryuuichi. He barely have time to dodge it when an incoming tonfa came right to his face. Fortunately, he managed to dodge both of it in the nick of time. "DON'T DODGE, RYUUICHI!" "Stay still."

"AS IF I WOULDN'T AND NO!" He managed to slip through the gap between Hibari and Ryohei and dashed off, out of the classroom. He was mildly aware that they were both hots on his tail as he cursed Reborn for this.

(When they disappeared, the rest in the classroom blinked, wondering what had just happened. Even Yuuichi)

\------------------------------------------------------------

If one would say that Ryuuichi looked angered, no. They're plain blind. Ryuuichi was definitely not angered. He was damn irritated. He had to run away from a hot headed senpai and another blood thirsty one for almost an hour. Damn, they were sure stubborn. He could feel his leg giving up on the stairs up to the roof top, with two others  _still_  chasing after him. He briefly wondered why there weren't any teacher stopping them, but he had guessed it was because of Hibari. Damn that prefect.

Muttering a curse as he, he slammed open the door and close it loudly, immediately jumping over the fence and down. A rush of adrenaline and strings of rainbow words in many languages he knew slipped out. He had forgotten fear in turn to escape Ryohei and Hibari. He seriously didn't want to fight them. He took a quick glance around, making sure that there weren't anyone around and used his Sky flames to soften his landing. Similar to how Tsuna usually did, he thrust his hands down, ring glinted once and soft, transparent, orange flame burst out from his palm as he slowly descended on the ground. He stumbled a little on the landing and whistled in amazement. He didn't knew that he could do that. 'Well, that was new..'

And then he remembered why he had jumped down. He looked up and saw Hibari and Ryohei looking down at him, Ryohei was in awe. He knew the prefect would jump down, so he quickly ran away, disappearing through the corner of the school building. He quickly took refugee in the small janitor closet, locking the door from inside. He took out his phone and silent it, sighing inaudibly. Looks like he would have to hide until those two give up.

Too bad they don't have the word 'give up' in their dictionary.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna sighed, wondering what he had gotten himself into. He, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Yuuichi had decided to find Ryuuichi and his chaser when Ryuuichi hadn't appear after one and a half period. Fortunately, their teacher allowed. (Actually, Yuuichi was glaring at said teacher, daring him to say otherwise) So they split up. Gokudera, Yamamoto and Yuuichi took the school building, gymnasium and the laboratory, and many other places Ryuuichi would go, while he took the courtyard and the back of the school.

Bad mistake.

He shouldn't have waltzed into the bully and gangster port, which was the accursed, back of the sacred school of  _Hibari Kyouya_. They were betting and skipping class. Worst. Smoking. He had saw it. Those guys had saw him saw them breaking the rules  _Hibari Kyouya_  had placed. He mentally shrieked and hurriedly turned around, wanting to run away before they catch him.

"Oh? Isn't that Dame-Tsuna?" Move! Leg! Moveee!

Two of the five bullies walked up to him, pulling him to who he presumed, the leader of the gang. He was sweating bullets as he dug his heels onto the ground in futile attempt to stop getting dragged towards the ugly dude. 'Nooo!'

And he was pushed down to kneeling position in front of the leader. He tried to look anywhere but the one in front of him, but a hand jerked his chin upwards. The foul smell of tobacco filled him. It wasn't like the one he frequently smelt when he was with Gokudera. Gokudera's more, acceptable, despite that the smoke created by that burning, cancer stick could potentially kill someone. (Mental note to Tsuna, coax the bomber to slowly quite smoking) This one was seriously disgusting. He felt like puking his guts out.

"Hmm... Since you have seen us, what should we do to you?" The leader asked almost gleefully, grinning like a mad man. His underlings started giving suggestions like beating Tsuna up into a bloody mess, make him an errant boy (Quite merciful, bless this one) and one even said to do  _that_ to him! (Curse this one to the seventh hell! He definitely do not need the birds and bees lesson!) By the time the leader silent his underlings for what seems to be a mock consideration, he was very pale, as though he had just saw Nure Onna passing by.

"Dame-Tsuna sure looks like a girl, no? How bout we make you into our slave? Hm?" By the time the leader finished his sentence he had shrieked out loud in a volume that he hadn't thought he would achieve. They laughed in glee at the brunette's supposed fear, not knowing that Tsuna was actually thinking of ways to escape without accidentally kill them. (Nope. Tsuna wasn't afraid. He, after all, could overpower a powerful maniac who wanted to be worshiped as a devil King. Nope. This was nothing but a small situation for him)

A loud slam metal door opening was heard.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had being hiding in the crammed closet, which shouldn't even be considered as a janitor closet as there weren't a single thing in it except for a broken broom, for quite a long time that his legs felt numb. He hadn't take note how long, but he had almost fallen asleep, only to be awaken by thundering footsteps and stupid sounding laughter passing by. 'The gangsters of our school.. huh' He had somehow guessed they were skipping classes, and breaking the rules. He made a mental note to tell Hibari once he had done hiding.

Not much time later, he heard a familiar name from one of the rule breakers. He tensed up and listened to their conversations through the metal closet. A hand slipped to his phone, just in case he needed to phone Hibari immediately, rather than later while the other gripped on the handle of the door, lock undone. When he heard the shriek, he slammed the door open hands already dialed Hibari's number. It was taken at the second ring.

He stepped out of it, a cold, emotionless face plastered as he ignored the fact that his legs were still numb. A scowl ebbed on his face when two of those hormonal shits were in position, ready to strip the brunette. The leader returned a scowl of his own to him as he stood up, glaring him.

"Who the hell are you?" Behind the leader, a smarter underling of his trembled when he recognized Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi, on the other hand, spared not even a second glance at him and stalked towards Tsuna. He narrowed his eyes at the two behind Tsuna and was about to grab him, when they pulled Tsuna back and push him, taunting him.

"Oi. Who said you could take our prey?" The leader then suddenly smirked, as though Christmas had came early. "I remember now. You're the top student. Shiroki Ryuuichi was it?" He arrogantly walked nearer towards the said teen, leaning near his face. Although Ryuuichi was disgusted, he showed no emotion.

"You have a twin, don't 'cha? How 'bout the both of you become our bitches together with Dame-Tsuna here? You guys sure look cute" Ryuuichi did twitched at that. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and glared icily at the leader.

"Back off, would you? You smell like shit" He tilted his head down slightly, releasing a dark aura that screamed 'cross and die'. Unfortunately, the leader and his underlings (save for the one frozen on his spot) hadn't get the message behind it whilst his underlings laughed as though he was joking, while the one in front of him looked as though he was popping a vein. Oh wait, he was.

"Looks like our friend here wants a punishment. Shall we give him one, boys?" The leader backed away, smirking once again as his underlings moved towards him, even the one grabbing Tsuna so that he wouldn't escape. "After you, we'll go grab your brother to join you, eh? So wait tightly and enjoy~" Okay, Ryuuichi snapped.

His eyes were shaded by his bangs, the temperature around them dropped a few degrees as he lowly spoke. "Tsuna, stand further away" The said brunette shuddered at the murderous intent slipping out of the teen's voice and quickly did as he told. He suddenly was very well aware that they had not just managed to anger Ryuuichi. No. Ryuuichi wasn't just angered. Ryuuichi was downright  _ **furious**_.

"Hoh? Confident, aren't ya?" Underling One taunted as Underling Two moved to grab his collar. But before Underling Two managed to touch even a hair from him, he grabbed the offending wrist tightly and turned around, bending down low and kicked Underling Two, throwing him onto the ground with a loud thud. He made sure he had almost crush the wrist before letting go. Underling One and Three were surprised by the sudden move. They snapped out of it when Underling Two groaned loudly in pain, and with a roar, they rushed forward fists raised to punch Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi glanced at the incoming attacks through the edge of his eyes, ducked low enough to dodge Underling One's fist and bend up in split seconds to avoid Underling Three's. His punched Underling One's stomach with a strength rivaling Ryohei's punch, causing him to cough out. He elbowed the other one right on his throat, choking him. He then immediately went down low and swept them off their feet.

The leader was beyond shocked at that but he wouldn't back down from the obvious challenge Ryuuichi had showed him. He threw his cigarette down to the ground, crushing it once and attacked Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi dodge the incoming punch, face still void of emotion other than the obvious fact that he was furious. The leader was much better than his underlings, clearly had learned self defense before seeing how the leader's body moved with strict and sharp motions.

Too bad that despite Ryuuichi himself learned self defenses as well, he doesn't really stick to any one and just go with the flow, which meant he could switch techniques faster. He step sideways, dodging each punch with ease as he watched the leader with bored eyes.

Of course, the leader knew he would probably lose, so he dug out a penknife and tried to stab Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi frowned at the clicking sound of the blade being pushed out. He jumped back a step, another leg bring up fast and kicked the leader at his chest. The leader were thrown back by the kick, dropping on his back side.

His underlings were persistent as they stood back up and attacked him. He clicked his tongue, annoyed by the fact and quickly finish them. Each and one of them dropped down in a heap of bruised bodies. None of them could stand up again. The leader used his one last chance to get away, and was also the stupidest idea of all. He grabbed Tsuna and held his penknife near the brunette throat.

Tsuna was watching in awe when he was suddenly pulled back and a cold metal slid near his throat. He didn't even dare to swallow as he watched Ryuuichi emitting more and more murderous aura. Hibari, Yuuichi, Gokudera and Yamamoto, even Ryohei, suddenly appeared behind the teen. Gokudera and Ryohei was about to shout bloody murder at the leader but was choked by the suffocating aura. Hibari had his tonfa out, ready to attack but he stopped short upon seeing Ryuuichi. Yuuichi and Yamamoto, on the other hand, turned pale, once again.

"D-don't come closer or I'll kill him!" Wait an idiot.

Ryuuichi sauntered forward, daring him to do it. "B-back off! I'll really do it!" But he didn't. When Ryuuichi was near enough, he pulled away the hand that held the penknife away from Tsuna's throat with a force that would pull the arm out of it's socket. He grabbed Tsuna, however with care, and pushed him towards the others gently. His vice grip tighten on the wrist, cutting the blood stream. (Oh he was very well aware of the other's presences. He was well aware that the leader was in great pain too, he couldn't help and enjoy his suffering)

The leader cried out, hand losing grip on the penknife as it dropped onto the ground. He tried to pried the hands off to no avail. Ryuuichi mocked a sigh as he spoke coldly.

"Honestly, I've nothing against your minions," He finally let go, and punch the leader. The leader, once again, dropped onto the ground. He was about to push himself up again but a foot stomped on his chest. He coughed, feeling suffocated. "But you." He trembled in fear at the voice.

"Us? Bitches? Why don't you assholes go sell yourself instead?" Hibari growled lowly at the word. Ryuuichi paid no heed to that and stepped harder. He leaned down, glaring right into the leader's eyes. "On a second thought, how about I punish you instead? Hmm?" And the leader was out. Ryuuichi wasn't exactly impressed at the fainted guy, and stood straight up. When he did, he finally noticed the cowering Underling. The one that hadn't done anything at all.

He tilted his head. "Change your ways before  ** _I_**  change your genders" Then he smile. "Alright?" The poor guy almost peed himself as he frantically nodded. Ryuuichi nodded back once, before turning around. He passed them, showing an index finger to Yuuichi. "I'll leave the rest to you, Hibari" He walked out of their sight, facing the wall, and punched it.

God, he was still angry about that. He had all but want to just  _castrate_  them. But of course, he wouldn't do that kind of stuff. He breathed in and out, counting down from ten. When he finally calmed down. He sighed. When he turned once again, he saw a terrified Yamamoto, Gokudera and Tsuna, and a concern yet pale Yuuichi.

One thing ran in the their mind was, 'Ryuuichi scorn fury like no hell does'.

(Self note to all of them. Never  _ever_  anger Ryuuichi.

Reborn was smirking as he filmed everything down the whole time. Oh how much fun he had)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahem... I've no idea what happened there lol [Current me= Oh god the crinnngggeee--]
> 
> Next chapter will be the first of Inheritance Ceremony/ Shimon Arc!
> 
> I apologize in advance for the slight cursing there. And the innuendos. *sweat drop*
> 
> Nure Onna- A Japanese spirit that has a body of a snake and a head of a woman.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi was called Demon not just because of the incident with Yuuichi, but there's one time when this tyrant teacher had the accused him for cheating when he had gotten the highest score for this subject and had the audacity to drag his parents in. Said teacher forever traumatized simply just by verbal retorts and insults. Sarcasms included.
> 
> Hibari staring = Hibari observing.
> 
> For the secret prize, no one won since the one angered Ryuuichi wasn't one of them. Even if Tsuna did it indirectly. (Reborn was simply trying to make everything difficult for him)
> 
> The thrusting flame down thingy Ryuuichi did was a one time thing. I don't think it will appear again.
> 
> Ryuuichi and Yuuichi ended up in 2-A along with Tsuna and the others. I hadn't mention about it because it had somehow slipped and that the time skips in between arcs were.. Quite big.  
> 
> There might be missing words here and there because. Well. Shits happened.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	46. Transfer Students

"Ack!" A hand went up to his face, clutching a letter that suddenly flew onto his face. He looked up and frowned, seeing a hawk flying away. He looked back at the letter and blink, flipping it back and forth. The seal and the crest on the letter indicated that it was from Vongola. He raised an eyebrow at that, his mind rummaged through his memories about whatever was going to happen when he remembered.

Ryuuichi wordlessly opened the letter with care, a Sky Flame flared softly on top of the letter. He read the italian words once, twice, before smirking. Seems like the gear was moving again.

(Though, he had no idea how the hawk found him, nor how the Vongola knew about him. True he had helped Nono once during the Varia incident, but that old man didn't even know him. He mildly suspected it was either Yuni, Reborn or Dino who told Nono about him. Probably the former.)

\-------------------------------------------------------

"As you all know, seven students from Shimon Middle School will be arriving today to attend the lessons here. Two of those students will come to this class. Be courteous, alright?" The homeroom teacher of 2-A spoke as he took a look on the attendance book. "Now then, I'll have them introduce themselves. Come on in, Kozato-kun and... Shi.. Shi.. To.. Kun?" He struggled to pronounce the name when a hand was shoved in front of his face.

"My name is Shitt P.! Call me 'Shittopi-chan'!" Ryuuichi cracked up at that, face down, one hand covering his mouth as the other slapped his thigh a few times. And then when the teen with two large inflatable ring around here and a sunglasses continued to talk, he couldn't control it and burst out laughing. Dear god, the words she said and the reaction his classmates were sporting were absolutely hilarious.

"S-sorry. P-please continue" He a deep breath, finally stopped laughing after a moment. "O-okay. Next up is you" The teacher said. "I'm Kozato Enma" He couldn't hear Enma's voice, so he had asked him to repeat again. Enma did as told, but the third time the teacher asked, he stayed quiet. Though, Ryuuichi had kind of suspected that the teacher's eardrums were too worn out, seeing that the teacher was quite old because he could hear Enma's voice clearly.

'Shimon.....' The corner of his lips dropped slightly.

\-------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi blinked at the sight and laughed slightly. "Good morning, Tsuna, Enma" The said duo who was bumping the back of their hands, looked towards his direction and surprised to see him. Enma was more shocked at how he was acting so familiar with him. Ryuuichi wasn't acting though as he watched Enma's reaction. "Ryuuichi! Good morning. Where's Yuuichi?"

The said teen shrugged lightly, adjusting his backpack. "He had training, so he left early" He turned back to the red head who was obviously wary of him. He couldn't help but give him a small, soft smile as he introduced himself. "I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi. You can call me Ryuuichi"

Enma nodded slowly. There was something about Ryuuichi that had him on the edge slightly, but he couldn't seem to place a finger on what it was. However, he felt as though he could trust Ryuuichi. The teen doesn't seems to harbor any bad intention or whatsoever. Tsuna seems to trust him too. A part of him relaxed a little at that.

"I'm Kozato Enma" He said softly, but Ryuuichi could hear him perfectly. Ryuuichi nodded when his phone rang. He blinked when he saw the contact name. "Excuse me. I'll be going first." He walked away with a fast pace, but he wasn't in haste either. It was just that he walks faster than anyone else. Once he was sure that he was far enough, he picked up the call.

"Kusakabe-san?"

" _Ryuuichi-san. Sorry to bother you, but Hibari is fighting with-_ " He unintentionally cut off Kusakabe. "Suzuki Adelheid. The leader of Liquidation Committee of Shimon Middle" Honestly, he hadn't quite like Adelheid. He didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she challenged Hibari, and somehow started to control the school after everything was finished. Maybe that's why, but Ryuuichi felt that the reason was honestly too stupid to dislike her.

He knew that Adelheid was a strong-willed girl, that and her soft spot for her family despite her strict nature. Everything she did was more for her friends, for her family. (Minus the fact that she tried to take over Hibari's power over Namimori, of course.) That, he could respect her for. Under all the hardness, she was fragile too. He knew that very well. However, the way she wore her clothes and all kind of triggered him in the wrong way.

Anyhow, even with all that, he had long decided to neither like nor dislike the girl, but remain neutral to her. Until, that is, something happen that made him change his mind.

" _Yes._ " "So you want me to..?"

" _If it's not much trouble, could you please stop them now? I fear for her life_ " Ryuuichi almost laughed at that. Oh Adelheid won't die simply just from a fight with Hibari. Although, Hibari is definitely much,  _much_  more stronger than her so it was kind of logical to fear for her. Hibari won't hesitate to 'kill' anyway, even if it was a girl. He shook his head, fasten his pace. "Don't worry. She won't die just from that. I'll go watch though. Probably interfere if things gotten out of hand." Nope. He won't interfere. He'll let Tsuna do the job.

" _Alright then. Thank you, Ryuuichi-san_ " And the line was off.

He sighed, shaking his head again. There are so many violent people around. Not that he would complain anyway.

\-------------------------------------------------------

"So you've finally gotten serious" "Yeah. I'll bite you to death next" Ryuuichi sighed. He was sitting on the water tank, watching Hibari and Adelheid fight as he noticed a few things. Enma, and his family, believes that Adelheid is the strongest whilst Tsuna and his family, knows that Hibari is the strongest. The differences between Shimon Tenth and Vongola Tenth was tiny, but it was still there. 'The cloud and the Ice, huh..'

The two then rushed towards each other, going to attack once again when Reborn dressed in Tarzan costume appeared out of nowhere, hanging on a vine and kicked Tsuna in between them. Their attacks hit both side of his cheeks as he fell flat onto the floor. Adelheid was surprised that he didn't die from their attacks, obviously was underestimating him in a sense.

Tsuna, despite his swollen cheeks and the pain as he spoke, yelled at Reborn for dragging the duties of being the boss into a school fight. "It has everything to do with you. They're guests" Reborn said as he put on his fedora.

"..Guest?"

"Yeah. They're called the Shimon Family. They're a mafia family that was invited to the Vongola Inheritance Ceremony" The brunette gaped at that. The last thing he would've expected was to have another Mafia family who all were all around their ages. Not that he could say his was any different. "The connection between the Shimon and the Vongola dates back to very old time. They've known each other long before the time of Primo. Though now, they've become such a small and weak family, that even I'd never heard of them"

Reborn was as straight forward as ever, but Ryuuichi believed that none of them would want that part of Reborn to change. As though the hitman himself would change for anyone, anyway. Realization then dawned the others. "Inheritance ceremony?" Gokudera asked, clearly thrilled despite being confused.

Tsuna was doing so weird movements, denying everything when Reborn kicked him from his chin, ordering him to get himself together. "The Vongola Inheritance Ceremony that will take place in seven days.. Will be a ceremony like no other, where Tsuna will officially inherit the title of Juudaime.

"The Ninth knows everything about your fight with Byakuran. He's the one who decided upon this ceremony." Reborn then moved on to explain to Ryohei about the ceremony, which powerful mafia families around the world will be coming for the ceremony. He then turned towards Ryuuichi, who was still on his perch on the water tank, observing them with a small smile.

"And I believe you have received yours, no?"

Ryuuichi nodded, jumping down. "Yeah. Though, I wonder how did Nono knew about me?"

"You're the Historian of this generation. Your awakening wasn't something small to the Vongola, since the Historian had quite an involvement with Vongola ever since Primo's time. Now, you with Tsuna and his guardians" He raised an eyebrow at that. "You researched about it, didn't you?"

Reborn said nothing and only answered with a smirk.

\-------------------------------------------------------

If there was one thing Enma hadn't expect, it was how easy Ryuuichi could see through him. He was resting on a bench after a beating session from the bullies when Ryuuichi appeared with a plastic back in hand, his backpack hung sideways. Ryuuichi had blinked once as a flash of surprise disappeared as soon as it appeared.

Wordlessly, Ryuuichi placed his backpack down on the ground and took a seat beside him. He rummaged the plastic bag he was holding and took out an ice cream, handing it to the red head. "Here. My treat" Enma gave him a look of doubt, clearly hesitating on taking the ice cream. Ryuuichi chuckled and gently place it on his swollen cheek, surprising him. "Also for the swell to subside"

"... Thank you" Ryuuichi smiled as he set the plastic bag down when Enma took hold of the ice cream and looked around. Once he was sure that there weren't anyone in view, he nodded and turned towards him again. He held out his right hand to him, ring glowing in yellow. Enma's eyes widen slightly as he flinched back.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. Trust me, alright?" He furrowed his eyebrows lightly, but slowly nodded at the soft and convincing voice. At his consent, Ryuuichi placed his hand on his chest, healing him through his clothes. He felt that Enma wouldn't be comfortable enough for him to heal him through his skin, so this would do. The pain slowly disappeared, only warmth in it's place. It was a wonder for Enma, that Ryuuichi managed to notice that he had a bruise on his chest through his shirt and jacket.

".. I don't need your pity.." Ryuuichi scoffed a little at that, moving his hand down to the red head's torso, noticing the slight wince. "And who told you I'm pitying you?" He wasn't sure if he should be offended or amused when Enma looked surprise.

"You.. aren't?" He shook his head.

"Nope. Rather than pity, I wanted to hit you for not counter back the bullies. You clearly have the strength to do so" He sounded playful despite the threat he had given. Enma didn't know how to answer back. What had he done to have Ryuuichi believing that he could defeat a bunch of buff guys? It was almost impossible. The look in those dark brown orbs had told him otherwise. When Ryuuichi glanced into his eyes once, he felt as though he was stark under those mysterious eyes.

Ryuuichi could see the disbelief in Enma's eyes. He didn't exactly mind, however, because Enma has a low self-esteem. He himself too had quite a low self-esteem, so he understood the feeling when someone told you you can do something you yourself deem it was impossible. Though, he had said nothing of it and finally took his hand off Enma's torso. "That should do it"

"Thank you.." He grinned brightly at that, when slowly, Enma returned a small smile of his own. "Now, I need you to answer me some question. In exchange, you could ask me some" Enma nodded.

"First, are the bullies from Namimori Middle?" He nodded again. Ryuuichi took out his phone, unlocked it and went to the photo gallery. He scrolled to a few pictures and showed it to Enma. "Them?" Enma nodded again. He hummed in appreciation, immediately sent the pictures to both Kusakabe and Hibari, adding a small note on what they did.

"Why are you doing this?" Ryuuichi's fingers faltered slightly at the question, before he locked his phone again and slid it back into his pocket. "Do I need a reason to?" He said as he looked directly into Enma's eyes once again. The amount of trust towards Enma had him taken aback. Really, why would Ryuuichi, someone he was so sure that he hadn't met before, trust him this much?

".. So you're the Historian" He quickly changed the subject. He remembered the infant talking about the Historian. Sure, he knew about the Historian. His ancestors were once their allies, but they disappeared somewhere in the history. And now, they're with the Vongola. Enma unconsciously clenched his hands slightly.

"Yeah. Apparently I am" If Ryuuichi noticed it, he had said nothing of it. Instead, he raised his hand and ruffled the red locks. Enma was clearly annoyed at that, seeing how he tried to push his hand away. He chuckled, when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Ryuu!" He turned towards the source of the voice to see Yuuichi waving at him before rushing towards them. Before his brother reached to them, Ryuuichi requested Enma to not speak of the Mafia to Yuuichi.

"Yuu. Done?" He asked his brother. Yuuichi was held back by his teammates, so he waited for his brother at the park when he saw Enma. Yuuichi made a noise of agreement, tilting his head at the red head. "Enma. This is-" "I'm Shiroki Yuuichi! Nice to meet you!" Enma looked at Yuuichi, then to Ryuuichi, then back to Yuuichi. ".. Twins?" Yuuichi cheerily nodded. "Yep!"

"Oh right. Enma. Do you have your phone now?" Ryuuichi suddenly asked. "Yeah" "Great! Can I borrow?" Enma raised an eyebrow at that, but handed him his phone. Ryuuichi smiled gratefully and took it. He immediately typed something, and a moment later, his phone rang. Next was Yuuichi's.

"Here. I've saved both Yuu and mine's number. Contact us whenever you need help, alright?"

Really, no matter how, Enma couldn't get a single thing about Ryuuichi. But he didn't mind.

\-------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Ryuu. Is he bullied?" The said teen didn't even glance back at Yuuichi who was leaning sideways against the door frame as he did the laundry. "Yeah. It's kind of obvious, huh..." He muttered, pouring generous amount of detergent into the washing machine. Yuuichi stayed silent at that. He felt that there was something off about all this. Ryuuichi, for some reason, had changed a little. In a sense. It wasn't noticable, but he realized. That, and the Shimon transfer students. He heard from a senpai of his in his basketball club, that a third year Shimon Middle School student named Aoba Koyo had an immediate verbal fight with Ryohei. Then the other one, who is also a third year, looked so much like an adult rather than a mid schooler.

The girl that challenged Hibari, the strange bald girl in their class. Kozato Enma. The fact that his brother seems to know about them, seeing his gaze towards them were similar during their first meeting with a certain brunette. All in all, something doesn't sit well to him. It's big, and his brother seems to know it all. He didn't like it at all.

Ryuuichi could feel Yuuichi's stare boring holes on his back, and he realized that Yuuichi noticed something. Yuuichi wasn't exactly ignorant towards his surrounding. Heck, he's quite sharp witted too. Perhaps it runs in the family, seeing that his parents were quite sharp as well. Except that they like to start witty, cheesy banter and do PDAs in front of them. Although it was sweet and all, he couldn't help but occasionally gag at it. Playfully, of course.

He started the washing, and turned around. He walked up towards Yuuichi and hugged him, sighing. "Ryuu?" He felt a pair of arms wrapping around his being, smiling. "Nothing. Just feeling happy that you're here" True, he was happy. He couldn't feel anymore happier to have Yuuichi safe, with him. But his sudden hug was to reassure his brother that everything would be alright. He still couldn't tell him, but he will. Not now, but after meeting damn Checkerface.

"Ne, Yuu... I might be gone for a while after a week or so..." Yuuichi felt his alarm going off. "What?" Ryuuichi sighed again, but it was more of hopelessness.

"Yeah.. There are some things I need to take care off, so I had to stay there for a few days. A week and a few days at most" Yuuichi's hands clutched onto Ryuuichi's shirt tightly. He didn't like this at all. He felt left behind. Tsuna and the others knows about it, but not him. Not Yuuichi. He wanted so badly to be a part of all this, but Ryuuichi wouldn't tell him. Whatever his brother was involved in, it was dangerous. But god, Yuuichi wished that Ryuuichi would just tell him. And why, does Ryuuichi felt further away? Like he was going to drift away from Yuuichi's grasp?

".... Come back soon" Ryuuichi's eyes widen at that. He had half expected Yuuichi to just throw a fit and demand him to tell him. His eyes soften. His dear, beloved brother, so,  _so_  precious and understanding. He felt guilty for taking advantage on his brother's kindness. He just want to stab himself a thousand time for it. He tighten his embrace to the point of almost cutting of Yuuichi's ability to breathe.

"Thank you.." 'And I'm sorry'

\-------------------------------------------------------

"Sorry about that" Ryuuichi nodded curtly at the teen with a white fedora. He frowned, but quickly covered it up with a smile. Julie tilted his fedora down, smirking before walking away, waving at him. Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes at the teen as he disappeared into the crowd. He had accidentally bumped into Julie Katou when he was strolling around Namimori. It was weekends, and his brother, once again, was dragged off by his teammates. Yuuichi had protested, saying that he wanted to stay with Ryuuichi but, well, his demon coach weren't so merciful with him.

This Julie was the last person he wanted to see before the Inheritance Ceremony. He had to restrain every fiber of his being to not straight punch the teen in the face.

He clicked his tongue once, before continued his tracks. He shouldn't get riled up before all- Did a black limo just stopped in front of him? His eyes were wide when a familiar looking man stepped out of it. He furrowed his eyebrows at the old man with beard, trying to remember who exactly he was. And then a click.

"You're... Vongola Nono's Storm Guardian" He sounded rather breathless. Coyote nodded. "Nono wished to see you" His gruff voice was kind of expected. However, the words, weren't.

"What?"

"Ryuuichi!" He looked into the car and saw Tsuna, along with Reborn at the back seat. He looked back at Coyote who gestured him to get into the car. And he did.

\------------------------------------------------------

"Now, I believe that you've questions for me, Shiroki-kun?" Ryuuichi blinked. Tsuna had gone back first, leaving Reborn and him. Timoteo had wanted to talk to him, so the old man asked him to stay behind for a while. First, he had absolutely no idea why he was called along with Tsuna. Second, he had no idea how the heck Timoteo knew about him. Oh. Wait. Yuni. Right. Of course.

"Umm.. You wanted to see me...?" Timoteo chuckled warmly. "Yes, indeed I did. I was intrigued by you. During the time you helped me despite not meeting before, and especially when the Sky Arcobaleno showed me the battle with Byakuran."

"H-hahh.."

"However," Ryuuichi tensed up at that. "Even if you're the Historian, can we trust you to be our ally during the worst time of all?" He opened his mouth once, closing it and frowned. He didn't like these kind of question, but it was expected. Timoteo was simply just being careful, since it was the peak of the Inheritance Ceremony.

"My apologies, Nono. I'll go accordingly to the situations in hand before deciding. However, you can trust that I would not betray Tsuna and his Guardians."

Timoteo's eyes glinted in amusement. The Historian truly is a neutral party. No. This teen in front of him, Shiroki Ryuuichi, doesn't act on his emotions. It wasn't exactly a good thing, but in the underworld, it is important to not act rashly, despite the miracles that might happen. And how he phrased that he wouldn't betray the brunette and his friends, not Vongola showed that his loyalties lies to certain people. These kind of people are the most dangerous, yet the safest one you could get. Timoteo knew it was a right thing to believe in this teen.

"I see. Then I hope to see you again during the Inheritance Ceremony" A small smile was given.

"Of course"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter of Inheritance Ceremony Arc!!
> 
> Time skip is huge here, so according to the manga, it's from chapter 283 to 291. I'll straight jump to the Ceremony because, well, I've plans for that part. The rest, not much. However, I'll get to the part with Yamamoto because *deep breathes* KAORU WHY!?
> 
> Fun Fact= Kusakabe and Ryuuichi exchanged contacts a month after Hibari first approach Ryuuichi because, apparently Ryuuichi could grab Hibari's attention long enough for anyone unfortunate who were caught by the prefect to survive. Even just for a millisecond.
> 
> I found that going according with the manga and writing this was harder than going with the videos. *sigh* I got confused a few times just because of it.
> 
> Oh the love and trust between brothers. So common yet so hard to write. How many times have I wrote that exchange between Ryuuichi and Yuuichi? *face slam onto the table* *groan*
> 
> Timoteo is forever the kind but bad-ass grandpa to me. No one can tell me otherwise.
> 
> Right, the knowledge of the Historian is known by Vongola, but ever since Terzo's time, they had already forgotten about the Historian. Though, the Historian is in the History of Vongola. Reborn had researched on the Historian from there, similar to how he researched on the origins of Shimon. It's kind of confusing, no?
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	47. Inheritance Ceremony

"Yuu, here" Ryuuichi handed his said brother a cup of tea, another in his hands. "Thanks" Yuuichi took the cup and place it on the coffee table as he continued doing his assignment on the Civilization of China on his laptop, sitting on the floor. Ryuuichi had long finished his part on the Civilization of Rome, so he offered to lend a hand to Yuuichi.

He sat on the couch, leaning forward to see whatever his brother was typing while sipping on his tea. "Ah. You got the Dynasty wrong here. It should be Dynasty Han, not Chan" He pointed at the screen. He chuckled when his brother grumbled something about typo and all. Really, Yuuichi doesn't like assignments at all. It was fortunate for him that their teacher decided to allow him and Ryuuichi as a group, otherwise he might actually die. Okay not literally.

Ryuuichi every so now and then pointed out a few mistakes, additional facts, etcetera, etcetera, and not after two hours, it was finished. Ryuuichi sighed and leaned back onto the sofa, his already empty cup was on the table, beside Yuuichi's. "Seriously, did you go and memorized the whole History text book?" He sweated at that a little.

"That's exaggerating. I just happened to still remember bits and pieces of them" True, he still do remember it. He had studied this in his past life, and his teacher in his past life elaborations were hilarious enough for him to remember until now. Honestly, he remembered laughing hysterically from one of the said teacher's own random life story. Yuuichi hummed, stretching. He grimaced slightly at the sound of his bones cracking and triple saved the file. No one can be too careful with technologies nowadays. He definitely do not want to redo the whole thing again. All the Dynasties were giving him a headache.

"Let's call for a takeout" He nodded. "Yeah. I don't think I've the energy to cook anymore" Ryuuichi chuckled at that, grabbing the cups and stood, going to the kitchen as Yuuichi whipped out his phone. "Chinese?" "Sure" As he was walking to the kitchen, one of the cups' handle cracked, and the cup shattered on the ground.

Ryuuichi stood there, stunned. A shudder coursed through his being. Something bad happened. "Ryuu? Are you okay?" He nodded numbly at his brother who was checking on him when he heard the sound. Yuuichi frowned at that as Ryuuichi went around the pieces of glass, telling his brother to stay put.

He couldn't push back the bad feeling as he placed the other cup in the sink, and went to pick up the broken pieces. He carefully grabbed the large pieces first before the smaller ones. He threw it away into the a plastic bag and grabbed the broom, swept the floor when he stumbled a little. A name flashed in his mind.

'Yamamoto'

He quickly finished the sweeping, throwing away the shards and hurried upstairs to change. He was changing out of his shorts when his phone rang. He quickly answered it, and dread filled him.

"I'll be right there" He hung up, and put on his jeans and rushed down. He grabbed his keys and put on his shoes. "Yuuichi! I'm going out for a bit! Eat first alright?"

"What? What happened?" Yuuichi was still frowning as he appeared from the living room when Ryuuichi was crouching, struggling slightly to put on his shoes on the entryway. Ryuuichi wondered if he should tell him, pausing his movements for a moment. "Yamamoto met an accident" It wasn't an accident. He cursed himself for forgetting about it.

"Hah?!" "Anyway, I'll tell you about his condition later, alright? You stay home. It won't be long" Before Yuuichi could protest, Ryuuichi had already shut the door. Ryuuichi grabbed his bicycle and cycled off.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had being cursing himself ever since he left his house. Cursing why he had forgotten about it. Why he let it slip his mind. If only he remembered, he might be able to help Yamamoto earlier with Ryohei. If only he... He took a deep breathe, trying to ebb away the growing headache as Ryohei explained that he had found Yamamoto first. They moved to the waiting room, and the atmosphere was absolutely suffocating.

"Damn it! I won't forgive whoever did this!!" Gokudera blew. "We need to ask the baseball team what they know.. Wasn't Mizuno with Yamamoto"

"Yeah. He and I were playing catch ball yesterday, but I left before him" Ryuuichi raised his head up, glaring at Kaoru Mizuno. He couldn't help it. He was losing control on his composure. The others seems to notice his piercing glare towards the teen, and asked.

"No. Nothing. Sorry" He curtly said, shifting his eyes to the door of the waiting room, tuning out their conversation. He rubbed his temple, closing his eyes. The damage was done, there was nothing he could do, even if he knew about it. Though, he was relief that Yamamoto would definitely make it through.

"There's a way to dig out the culprit." Reborn said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. "I just went to check the locker room where Yamamoto was attacked. I was looking for any leads as to who the attacker was"

"Leads? And did you find any?!" Gokudera asked anxiously.

"I did. But it'll take time to reveal the culprit, and since this concerns secret information about Vongola. Could the Shimon Family leave for a while?" The Shimon wanted to hear, saying that they could help, but Reborn declined. "Of course, if we need help, we'll ask for it. But for now, we need to have a little privacy. You lot should be careful too. You might be attacked as well" (Ryuuichi barely able to stop himself from raising an eyebrow when Reborn didn't ask him to go for a moment along with Shimon.)

Tsuna felt another layer of dread falling onto him. He had being silent ever since he was dragged into the waiting room. His stomach still churns, remembering the sight of Yamamoto drenched in blood with an oxygen mask on. It was all his fault. He was the one who dragged Yamamoto into this. He was the one who caused Yamamoto to be in critical condition. If only he hadn't pull him into this dark world... If only Yamamoto wasn't involved with all this..

And not just Yamamoto, but the others would be in danger as well.

"Yamamoto left a message in blood, just before he passed out. But a good portion of it was covered up. Probably the part that revealed the culprit's name. Someone must have tried to delete the evidence. However, next to that, the letters 'Deritoto' had been written in small letters."

"Deri.. Toto?"

"Not a clue, right? Looks like the culprit overlooked it too. I didn't get it at first either, but if you write it in romaji, It becomes 'delitto'. In italian, this means the word 'sin'. From here on, this information that only a few inside the Vongola Family know. 'Sin'. It's the name of the small bottle that the boss of Vongola Inherits at the ceremony with each new generation. 'Sin' is something Primo created to leave the memories of his battles to all his sucessors within the family. It is the proof of the Vongola boss.

"In legends, they say that the bottle contains the blood that was shed during the battle."

Ryuuichi had knew all that already. The fact, that the bottle contains blood, was the truth. However, the origin of the blood, wasn't. It wasn't surprise that it was targetted, because the culprit knew the truth. An act of Vendetta, Ryuuichi would've said. But it wasn't. Not with that piece of shit pulling the strings like they were all dolls. (He made a mental note to punch said shit in the face)

He clenched his hands tightly.

"The 'Sin' is what they're after, considering the fact that the only time the 'Sin' appears before people's eyes is at the Inheritance Ceremony. There is no mistake that the culprit will come to the ceremony. Of course, if the ceremony is held, that is."

Gokudera, Yamamoto and Chrome were puzzled at Reborn's words. "What are you talking about?"

"Tsuna turned down the title of Vongola Boss. The ceremony is cancelled."

"However, it was no longer the case, right?" Ryuuichi muttered, directing to the brunette. True to his words, Tsuna had changed his mind. "I.. I'll ask Kyuudaime to open the ceremony." His words came out soft at first, but it harden. "The culprit is bound to attack another one of my friends again. And I won't forgive that. Whoever did that to Yamamoto.. I'll catch them no matter what it takes! I'm going to the Inheritance Ceremony!"

Ryuuichi sighed inaudibly. He rubbed the back of his neck. For some reason, he felt as though that wasn't the only thing that would be happening tomorrow.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi grabbed his gun. It wasn't the gun that his parents gifted him. No, that would be used in case there was any emergency, or that he had no choice but to use it. He wouldn't taint his gift. The gun he had, was something he found. When he came back from the future, this sliver gun were in his drawer. It was from his future self. How his future self managed to place it there, he didn't know. But he had taken a liking to it and he daresay, more so than his bow. He placed the gun into the holster he had strapped on his shoulder.

He wore his black black suit over his grey button down shirt and the holster. He put on his watch along with the bracelet, smiling slightly when his partners growled lightly. He glanced at the time and sighed for the nth time. It was too early, but he couldn't leave like this when Yuuichi was awake. He wrote a small note and stick it on the refrigerator. Hopefully Yuuichi wouldn't be too worried. (Nope. Yuuichi would definitely be worried. He might even punch him in the face when he come back)

He huffed, putting on his shoes. He would first go find Tsuna. He quietly shut the door and locked it. Before he walked off, he placed a hand on the door, smiling. 'I'm off'

\-------------------------------------------------------------

The castle was grand. That was one thing all of them would say. However, because of what had happened and their current priorities, they didn't really enjoyed the view, glancing warily at every single person. That was when Naito Longchamp merrily popped by. A character that Ryuuichi hadn't really bothered to care about. The teen wasn't even a bit suspicious about the illusion of Yamamoto Chrome had made. He stayed behind a little as the group walked forward, looking at the surrounding a little while more.

And Dino came. "Been well, young ones?" His turtle, Enzo, was on his shoulder. He placed a hand on Tsuna's shoulder, grinning brightly. "Never expected that this day would come so soon! You make me proud!" Tsuna laughed sheepishly as he continued, lowering his volume.

"I received the memories of battles in the future from Yuni. Let's have a chat later." The brunette agreed, when suddenly a loud, familiar yell was heard. "VOI!!"

There was Varia, in their suits. "It's been a while, you scum!" Squolo said, or rather yelled. Ryuuichi, who was quite far away from them, could hear him. He shook his head and slowly walked towards them. "Squalo, you really don't change. Where's Xanxus?"

"Our boss is absent! Like hell he would come! Voii! You haven't been skipping training, have you?!" When the illusion spoke, both Squalo and Dino noticed.

They both grabbed Tsuna and started interrogating him in low voices. "Where's Yamamoto Takeshi?" "We won't pry if you won't tell us but.. You can tell us anything. We can help."

"I suggest you guys stop acting so suspicious right now even if you noticed. Especially like this" Ryuuichi suddenly spoke behind them, smirking as he crossed his arms. "Yo" Squalo clicked his tongue at him, while Dino looked like his eyes were going to bulge out if he don't stop widening them.

"R-r-ryuuichi!? Y-y-you were invited as well?" He raised an eyebrow at that. "What? Don't want to see me?" His tone was playful, but he was curious of Dino's reaction. The blonde was overreacting. He didn't know why. "N-no! Y-yes! Wait- I mean-!" Dino ruffled his hair in frustration as Ryuuichi chuckled.

"I-I'm glad to see you- Just- I-I need to go now. S-see ya!" Ryuuichi shook his head. Dino was like he had being caught red handed for something stupid. He narrowed his eyes. He felt there was something going on around here. Especially Dino. He turned around to the brunette.

"I'm going in first" With Tsuna's nod, he walked off. He went into the building, swiftly avoided everyone. He looked around, impressed by all the decorations and all. Everyone was chattering here and there. He sweated lightly at the chosen topics that ranged from talking about the Vongola Tenth and his Guardians, rumors, nonsense and, well, bribes. All kinds of things were said. There was this guy, looking as though he was constipating as he talked with another guy.

Ryuuichi turned his gaze to Timoteo, who was standing in the middle of the T-shaped carpet with his Guardians, smiling. The old man noticed and immediately met his gaze. His eyes were twinkling with amusement, as he gave Ryuuichi a small nod. Ryuuichi replied one of his own, before breaking them when Tsuna, along with the others, walked in.

"Now, we shall commence the passing of the bottle, which is the proof of the Vongola Boss since Primo's generation. It'll be handed on to Vongola Decimo, from Vongola Nono" He noted that Tsuna was tensed. The brunette was wary, because the culprit to Yamamoto's assault was here, in this Castle.

Somehow, Ryuuichi managed to be pushed to the front line as the crowd surrounded the Vongola, watching. That was when he realized that he was shorter than most men. He stomped down the growing irritation and focused on the ceremony. He blinked slowly, and his vision changed slightly. (Somewhere, unknown to all, the ceremony through Ryuuichi's eyes were recorded, saved.) A bald man had walked to stay beside both Timoteo and Tsuna, holding the box that contains 'Sin'.

Timoteo picked up the box and opened it, handing it to Tsuna. A vial of thick red liquid was in the middle of the box. "I pass this on to you, Decimo" Timoteo's voice sounded in the silent room, when a loud screech was heard. Ryuuichi winced at the noise, covering his ears.

Explosions here and there, debris of the building fell.

Ryuuichi put up a shield tint with orange around him, watching chaos fell into it's place. (He put up the one that people could still see him. He, after all, had no idea how to do the shield down by Caelum) Timoteo's guardians had formed a protective circle around both him and Tsuna, along with the vial of blood, flames flaring. In the midst of the smoke, Ryuuichi could hear Varia, Squalo's shout, and Dino giving command to Romario to protect the guest.

When the smoke cleared and their sights returned to them, a few of them looked around for enemy, before turning to Timoteo at the brunette's shout. The old man's arm was injured, the vial broken and on the ground. Fortunately, it was a fake. The real one was in this vault with flames shielding it.

However, when one of Timoteo's guardians, Ganauche III, went to check on the vault, he found that it was broken into. He then noticed there was someone in it, and took out his gun. His gun, without contact or whatsoever, broke into pieces. Ice were shot to him as he tried to shield himself from it with his flames, they passed through. It was Bouche Croquant who pulled him down in the nick of time from getting those glaciers.

Dust suddenly flew about when the vault were levitated up into thin air before it exploded. Seven figures stood.

'No..' "Enma... Kun?"

"We're taking back the 'Sin'. This blood belongs to the Shimon Family." All of them were surprised at that. Even Reborn. "As you know now," Adelheid said. "We came to this ceremony to take back the 'Sin'"

Tsuna clenched his hand, eyes wide in disbelief. "It.. Couldn't be.. The one who attacked Yamamoto..." 'Please please please please no. Say no..  _Please_ ' His heart died for a moment at the red head's confirmation.

"Yes, that would be us. We needed this.." Enma poured the blood on the ring he had. The ring glowed, circular loops with unreadable words grew bigger and bigger, until it circled Enma. His head were flaring with red flames. "In order to regain our power and take revenge on Vongola!"

Although Tsuna didn't understand, but he felt rage. He felt burning fire boiling in him, slowly overflowing as he gritted out his words. "No way.. I don't understand.. Why... Why?!"

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Tsuna!" "Voii! Stop right there!" The Varia, and Dino appeared. They watched in horror as the brunette was crushed by Enma's manipulation on the gravity. The brunette was clearly overpowered. They wanted to help, but was stopped by Adelheid.

"Outsiders should stay out of it" Glaciers were shot towards them, but before it reached them, a orange shield shattered all of it. They widen their eyes in surprise, and turned towards Ryuuichi, who were watching Enma hurting Tsuna and his friends with a hard scowl. The teen had one hand in his pocket while the other outstretched, as though he had just swiped something off.

Ryuuichi shifted his eyes to Adelheid, glaring at her icily. "Outsiders, as you've said, but none of you were to get them involve." He turned to the Varia and Dino. "That goes the same as you guys. This is to be left to the Shimon and the Vongola"

"Where do you stand, Historian" He glanced to the red head who addressed him by his title. "With the Vongola, or with us, Shimon?" He closed his eyes, sighing inaudibly. He faced Enma again, opening his eyes halfway.

"I stand with none, but my own. I may be allied with the Shimon and the Vongola, but I side none. Though, may I add a few things before you guys move?"

"You may" Ryuuichi's eyes glinted in amusement as his glare disappeared. He ignored the protests and yells of questions from the Vongola as he took down the shields, both his and the others. He took a step forward from where he stood. "I apologize for the wrong timing.." He muttered. "Since the begining, the Historian had being allies with the Vongola, Shimon and Vindice. And this will stay the same forever. However, loyalties and allegiances were sworn upon Vongola Primo and Shimon Primo, and their guardians, and whoever inherits their wills. I, the current Historian, will do that as well." A small circle glowing in light blue appeared from where he stood.

"From today on, not only the Historian is allied with Vongola, Shimon and Vindice, the Historian will be allied with Cavallone as well. My loyalties, on the other hand, were only to the following;

" _Sawada Tsunayoshi and his guardians, Kozato Enma and his guardians, Dino. I, the current Historian, Shiroki Ryuuichi, pledge loyalty and allegiance to you and those who follow your wills. Unless one were to stray from their will that I've pledged to, this bond shall never break._ " Those who mentioned glowed, surprised. Once it dispersed, they finally gotten their sense back. They couldn't understand a single thing that was going on. But Reborn did understood the part on Ryuuichi's pledge.

"But you still wouldn't help us, would you?" He gave Enma a small smile, shaking his head. Enma had expected that somehow, so he said nothing, even if he had wanted to ask why even him. Like, he had just betrayed them, and how could Ryuuichi remain that way was mystery to him. Instead he went back to his own current task in hand.

Julie had taken the unconscious Chrome away, but Ryuuichi did nothing to stop, except give the teen a murderous glare. Tsuna yelled at Ryuuichi, telling him to stop them, telling him to grab Chrome back. They couldn't take away her. She's his. All of them are his. No. They couldn't.

"Chrome!!"

"Tsuna-kun. You'd better worry about yourself" Something pushed harder at him against the cracked ceiling. He groaned out in pain and his Vongola ring shattered into pieces. He fell down limply from the ceiling.

"Today is the start of Vongola's end and the beginning of the new Shimon. Let us leave, to our holy home"

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, hang in there!! Bring in the tanker!! They're severely injured!" Ryuuichi moved towards the crater as Dino yelled out orders. He frowned, concern swelled in him. He couldn't do anything. They needed this stage. If he were to stop it from happening, who knows what would happen next.

A bloodied and injured Hibari pushed himself up forcefully, even though he couldn't even stand properly. "Don't touch me. I'm fine, excluding my pride" At those words, Dino stopped himself from helping. Even Ryuuichi, who was considering healing him, stayed put. He had a feeling that they were angry at him.

"Is everyone alright!?" "The tanker is here!" His eyes widen at the familiar voices, his body tensed. " _W-wait d-don't!_ " He barely could hear Dino's voice as the man spoke in Italian as he stiffly turned around and promptly had the shock of his life.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A-ahahahah....
> 
> Uhumm...
> 
> ...........................
> 
> This chapter starts from Chapter 293 to 299 in the manga.
> 
> Things shattering, cracking or breaking really seems like bad omens, don't they?
> 
> Things were starting to slip from Ryuuichi's mind. Nothing major. Really. Just that it has been years since he last read the manga of KHR. So yeah.
> 
> I felt that this is a bit too Ryuuichi-centric. Then again, this whole story is Ryuuichi-centric. *face palm* What am I talking about....
> 
> AND YEPPP. There'll be a bit more things revealed in the next chapter....... The match with Shimon might start at the last part of the next chapter. MIGHT!
> 
> Fun fact= Ryuuichi always does things at a bad timing. Almost always.
> 
> Next chapter might take a while.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc, etc mistakes]


	48. Tree

"M-Mother? F-Father..?" Ryuuichi stumbled slightly as he subconsciously took a step back. The said couple, hearing his disbelief voice, finally noticed him in the midst of chaos and their eyes widen as well.

"Ryuu.. Ichi?" Somehow, the everyone had silent themselves at that, watching the three of them with curious eyes. Dino face palmed, sighing. So much for trying not to let them meet. Ryuuichi gaped like a fish as he tried to talk. He could grasp what had just happened and he was literally rendered speechless. Like, that was the last thing he had expected. Heck, it had never even crossed his mind.

Upon the nth try of trying to speak, he gave up, clammed his lips tightly and ruffled his hair in frustration, another hand on his waist. He sighed and turned to the injured Timoteo, a frown on his face. "Sorry, but is there any room that I could use for a moment?" His voice came out hard and oddly stiff. Tsuna and the others had never heard of it before. In their slight fascination, angers towards the teen dispersed as thought it weren't even there. Acceptance, came. (There was no way Ryuuichi would do something without a reason. They knew very well that everything he does, holds a reason, both big and small. Somehow, it surprised them on how easily they were to accept whatever he does. It scared them a little too)

"There is. You can choose any room you like" Ryuuichi nodded curtly, bowing lightly before turning back to his parents. He walked forward, gesturing his parents to follow. He eyes Dino as he passed the man. "You come along as well" Dino shuddered lightly at he tone but followed obediently, walking beside the couple, who was still in shock. He had somehow knew this day would come, but he honestly never expected that it would come so early.

Perhaps the older Ryuuichi who had came to the past for the first time had made a point. He could never hide things from Ryuuichi. He sighed again.

Ryuuichi had brought them to the furthest room from the ballroom where the ceremony was held. He opened the door and ushered them in silently. He closed the door lightly, and moved to seat on the opposite sofa from where they sat. The silence between all of them since they got out from the ballroom was still there. One could as though hear a needle drop in a distance.

The youngest of them had his arms crossed and legs crossed, as he tried to think how he should begin. He opened his mouth once before closing them, biting down his inner cheeks. "... Are... Are you guys in mafia...?" He finally broke the silence. Sakura and Kei exchanged looks and turned away slightly.

"... Yes.."

"... Is that why you guys were never really home that much..?" They slowly nodded. Ryuuichi gnawed his inner cheeks again. He stay quiet before a moment, before addressing to Dino. "And you knew it all along?" The blonde reluctantly nodded. Ryuuichi held his breath and released it audibly, making the three others flinch.

"Before I ask anymore things, could you explain, Mother, Father?" Sakura and Kei finally glanced at Ryuuichi, who weren't looking at them, surprised as his soft, resigned voice. They had half expected him to get angry at them. Kei grabbed Sakura's hand and held it tightly.

"I.. We, your mother and I, were freelance assassins before having both you and Yuuichi" He slowly started, absentmindedly rubbing the back of her hand. "We have been working for Cavallone for years, and still is. After we were sure you and your brother could take care of yourselves, we went back to the front line again."

"Which was when Yuuichi and I were 9" Kei smiled fondly, remembering the times when his sons were still children and nodded. "You two are quite matured and independent for kids. Even though it was hard for us at first, but we knew you two could do it."

Sakura then spoke. "During that period, we had worked for Cavallone in the background by giving information and hacking. We could be considered as be on pay leave" She worriedly looked at her son, trying to see any emotions under the poker face he has. "Ryuu-kun.. Are you in mafia..?" Both she and Kei had somehow dreaded to hear their son's answer. The last thing they want was to have their beloved Ryuuichi, and possibly Yuuichi, in this tainted world of their's.

Unfortunately, Ryuuichi nodded. "Why... Why hadn't you tell Yuuichi and I?" His voice were still soft, it held no usual warm. Instead, it had trembled lightly in uncertainty.

"... We didn't want to taint you both" But it seems like their effort had not paid off. It was a regret of their's, to taint their sons in this bloody world. To taint the innocent they both have. It wasn't like they hadn't thought of it before. They knew that there would be a day where their sons would know about the truth. They knew, but they didn't wanted that to happen. Yet, they couldn't leave the world of darkness named as Mafia that easily. Not when they used to be assassins who had quite an amount of rivals who wanted to kill them.

Their hands, bloodied for years of taking lives, dark for hurting people. Their soul, tainted with sins no one or thing could purify it, nor could they ever finish repenting it. Memories of those they killed still haunts them, making them afraid of even touching their sons at time. It hurt. It hurt so much it suffocated them.

"If-" Ryuuichi took a shaky breathe. "If you didn't tell us was to protect us from this dirty world, then you're underestimating us."

"T-that's not it!" Kei hurriedly said. He took a gulp upon meeting Ryuuichi's dark brown eyes. "We just.. Don't want to taint you two.." Ryuuichi looked as though he was hurt.

"Too late" Their heart sped up at that. "I've long been tainted." Ryuuichi glanced down at his hands after he uncoiled his arms. They were limp on his lap, and he clenched them. He closed his eyes slightly clenching them. "I've been tainted since I was 10" Not just their eyes widened, but even Dino's as well. According to his memories, the first time Ryuuichi killed should be during the time he helped Hibari in the future,  _not_  when he was still a  _child_.

"What?" The youngest breathed in again. "I.. have kind of suppressed this memories and just remembered them recently, so I couldn't exactly remember.. But I've killed someone when I was 10....." They looked horrified, but there was slowly acceptance growing as he continued. "This, guy, tried to assault Yuuichi who was asleep on the park bench once we were outside playing. I had left for a moment to refill our water and when I returned.... He was looming over Yuuichi."

"I.. I guess I've kind of snapped and went to hit him. He was stronger, of course, and he had a knife. I don't know how, but I managed to grab his knife and... Stabbed him..." His voice slowly turned into whispers, his hands trembled. He clenched his eyes closed at the memories. He honestly didn't know how he managed to forgotten about it, but when he did, he was petrified and he finally started to see blood on his hands. He had never really saw visions like that when he had killed in the future, but they somehow appeared after remembering. However, he had come to accept it. But there was still time he would see it.

It was really fortunate that Yuuichi didn't even woke up at that time.

His eyes snapped open when he felt two pairs of arm coiling around his frames, embracing him tightly. "Ryuu, you don't have to suffer like that..." Suffering? He wasn't suffering. No. Even when it still haunts him, he wasn't even in anguish for his killing, not a slightest bit. In fact, he felt relief. That he managed to stop that guy from getting Yuuichi. That he had saved his brother. He was glad.

(Later, he would paled a little at himself for that. Was he getting more sadistic?)

But, it felt nice in his parents' arms. He smiled softly, wrapping his arms around them just as tight. He said nothing, and only nodded. For what seems like hours, they finally let go of him, and sat besides him. He then noticed Dino, who looked awkward and out of place.

"Come to think of it. Why Cavallone?"

Dino blinked, smiling sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Umm..." "Boss here, is a distant relative of ours." Ryuuichi snapped his head to Kei so fast that they thought his head might just twisted off like that. " _What?_ "

"He's your distant cousin" He looked back to the blonde in both awe and disbelief. That, made sense. Not.

"Ryuu-kun.. Is Yuu-kun..?" His eyes soften at Sakura, and shook his head. "Nope. He had absolutely no idea... Though when are you going to tell him..? Or if I hadn't found out about this, when are you going to tell both of us?"

She sighed. "Kei and I were going to wait until both of you are at least 18 years old.. But it seems like that wouldn't happen. Come to think of it, how did you get into Mafia? Let alone know it" If she was anyone, Ryuuichi would have roll his eyes at her. He was already 14, mentally 30. How wouldn't he knew about the Mafia? Ryuuichi smiled lightly.

"I found it myself, and got into it myself. The full story, I'm sorry but I can't say it yet...."

Sakura and Kei returned a small smile of their own. However, they were still shaken. Ryuuichi could clearly see that. "We'll wait"

\-------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sighed, flopping down onto the sofa tiredly. He loosen his tie and huffed. He never really liked having a tie on. Probably because the way he tied it made it a little too constricting. He shook his head, looking towards the door he had just locked. He had left his parents and went to another random room for their own thoughts, seeing that not just them, but he himself, needed space to both swallow and digest what they had just went through.

That was when one Sawada Iemitsu came in.

Honestly, he had changed his thoughts about Sawada Iemitsu. The man, at first, he had thought was an idiotic man who leaves his beloved wife, Nana and his precious tuna-fish, Tsuna for the sake of his work. He had thought that the man had married to his work, rather than his wife and ended up not going back to Namimori to visit his family for years, causing Tsuna to not have a father figure.

But then, during the fight with Varia, he noticed, and finally remembered, that Iemitsu had tentatively watched his son and his son's guardians' training, aided them even, thought in his own way that no one realized. He had a brief meeting with the man once but he had not talked to him. He and the man had looked into each others' eyes for a moment, and he realized that the man had many reasons and secrets.

And after what he had gone through just a moment ago, he finally understood fully, and changed his thoughts on Iemitsu completely.

Sawada Iemitsu, a man whose hands are tainted, wished, hoped for his wife and son to live a civilian life, even if it meant to cut off any communication for years. He had thought a lot for them. He knew, if the mafiaso were to know his family's whereabout, they would be in danger. The phone, on the other hand, might be tapped as well. He had calculated, planned and was very careful about their safety. He, for their sake, had endured the pain of yearn for family warmth for years and probably years to come, if Nana hadn't found out the truth. Ryuuichi realized all that during the brief moment of lock gaze, knew that the man was in pain for dragging his precious son into the dark world they called mafia, even if it wasn't exactly his fault.

He, who he himself kept a whole lot of secrets and some burden for the sake of his family, understood that. He, who just realized the same pain his parents went through the same pain Iemitsu had endured, accepted that. However, Sawada Iemitsu is also a foolish man. A foolish, yet attentive, loving man.

"Sawada-san" He greeted with a curt nod as he stood, unwavering as he met the man's eyes.

Iemitsu was slightly taken aback by how the teen, who supposedly should be the same age as his son, looked so,  _so_ , matured, like he was an adult rather than a hormonal, emo teenager. Everything about Ryuuichi screamed mystery. But there was one thing he could see and understand in those pair of dark brown eyes. The pain for keeping a secret from their love ones. He still remembered the time they had met. It was by chance that he managed to stumble upon him, and during that moment, Ryuuichi's eyes held surprised realization, rather than the current, soft yet strong gaze.

"Yo! You're Sakura and Kei's eldest son, aren't you?" He had met with the said husband and wife before, when Nono had met up with the Nono and Decimo of Cavallone. They were kind and welcoming. Whenever they're on a break from the countless meetings they had, he would exchange stories of their children. During their fair share of exchanges, he could see what he was lacking of as a parent. This couple would occasionally take a month leave after about three to four months for their children, something that he had never done before. According to them, on the other hand, was that they lacked of his strong will to leave their children for at least half a year despite knowing that they are capable of taking care of themselves, which resulted a few rival assassins knew about their children's location. They were fortunate enough to catch those assassins before they could touch their sons.

He, Shiroki Kei and Shiroki Sakura, they all were tainted and held the same wishes for their love ones' safety. What they hadn't expect, however, was that Ryuuichi was the same as them. (He should have recognized the teen when he met him during the Varia's commotion. He should have, so that he could tell them. But then again, it wasn't exactly his business nor his place to do anything)

Ryuuichi gave him another nod and a small smile. "Yes, I am. Shiroki Ryuuichi. Nice to meet you" The elder nodded back, waving him to seat back onto the sofa he had rose from. Quite polite. He himself then took a seat across the teen, leaning back.

"So, how did your parents took all that?" He knew that Ryuuichi had a talk with his parents a moment ago, after they had a sudden unexpected reunion after Shimon waltzed in, took the blood, 'Sin', and then merrily waltzed out again. He raised an eyebrow when the teen sighed with concern tinted heavily in his tone.

"Not bad, I guess..?" Ryuuichi looked away slightly, suddenly finding the ground so much more interesting while frowning. His parents. His thoughts were all filled with his parents and Yuuichi. He absolutely didn't expect his parents to be  _assassins_  working with  _Cavallone_. He  _definitely **didn't**_  expect it when they told him that he and Dino are distant  _cousins_. (Nope. He still couldn't swallow both of that) When he had told his parents about his position as the Historian, and the very fact that he had tainted his hands- which was history in a sense- and all the other facts, he knew that they were in greater shock. Everything had somehow made sense, how his parents were always oversea and how minimal amount of mail he and Yuuichi had gotten from them. But nonetheless, he was very grateful for them to come home for him and Yuuichi as frequently as they could.

"What about you? I can see that you're sporting quite a headache there" He blinked, looking back at the man who was sporting a serious face.

".. Not quite, but getting there" Iemitsu somehow accepted his answer as silence fell. It wasn't exactly awkward, but he couldn't say that it was comfortable either. He knew that the teen felt the same. "How.. How is Tsuna?"

"He's alright" He felt relief, but it was short-lived. "But not at the moment. He, after all, had just brawled with Shimon for a brief moment" He frowned. He knew that his son was injured, and it had took all his self restrain to not jump out and help his son. He doubt that the brunette would appreciate it. He was curious at Ryuuichi's choice of word as well.

"And he's missing a father figure. Sawada-san, no. Iemitsu-san. When are you going to tell Nana-san? Or at least, spend time with them for a long full year?" His eyes widen, jaw dropped. He was practically rendered speechless. He had absolutely no idea how to answer that. He had thought of doing it before, like,  _of course he had_. But, circumstances had him changing his mind and delaying it. Honestly, he hated that part of him.

Ryuuichi watched him a few more longer, before standing up, bowing as he left the room. "Well, that's your decision anyway. Please excuse me"

\------------------------------------------------------

"Good day, Historian" Ryuuichi turned around to see a old man with a cloth covering his eyes. He immediately recognized the man with one glance, and smiled, bowing lightly. "Hello, Talbot-san" He looked pointedly at the things he was holding. "I see that you're going to fix them"

Talbot chuckled. Ever since Caelum's time, he had a great interest in the Historian, given that their abilities were one of a kind. However, as much as he wanted to know of it in depths, he knew that the sacred Historians shouldn't be tempered in any ways. There's only one of them each generation after all.

He used his cane and poked the teen, directly on the gun that was hidden under the jacket. "And I see that you've taken a great liking to it"

Ryuuichi blinked at that. A small quirked smile tugged on his lips. "So you're the one who made them." He had kind of suspected it. Talbot returned a smile of his own, saying nothing about it.

"Well then, I shall hurry now. Their cries are painful to hear" Ryuuichi nodded, moving to the side to let the old man pass. "Of course"

\------------------------------------------------------

He sighed, ruffling his hair slightly as an argument between Tsuna and Squalo broke before Timoteo silent them. Ryuuichi leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

"The inheritance ceremony was cancelled, which means that all the power still belongs to the Ninth. You must all abide by my orders!" The others were quiet at Timoteo's harsh tone. "I hereby entrust the task of subduing Shimon to Vongola Decimo and his guardians. However, Reborn must go with you"

"Reborn, I forbid you to attack Shimon in any way. And Ryuuichi-kun. Even if Don Cavallone oppose, I believe that you will follow as well, so please keep your word."

The said teen nodded. He uncoiled his arms and shoved his hands into his pocket. "Don't worry. I will. Besides, I doubt those guys would allow me to anyway" He shrugged through the last part, causing a few raising an eyebrow at it. Dino protested, of course. But the blonde man was silenced with a frown. He knew that Ryuuichi was still shaken and sore about what had happened, so it was kind of expected. But this was the first time the teen gave him this kind of look.

Ryuuichi was in dilemma. He seriously don't know why, but something about Dino right now had him wanting to hit something and comfort said thing at the same time. Though, he was sure that he was concerned about Dino. Again, he didn't know why. Like, the blonde wasn't even going to be in danger. Perhaps the truth had unconsciously opened his heart to the blonde more.

Dino's lips were down. His previously raised hands as he tried to persuade the teen fell to his sides, clenching them. He sighed and moved forward, catching the teen in a tight embrace. "Be careful, alright?" Ryuuichi, who was surprised at the sudden hug, nodded slowly. He returned the embrace. "I will"

Well, it wasn't as though he would be injured anyway. Unless he decided to give a certain piece of crap a good beating.

_Dear lingering soul,_  
Why won't thou move on,  
For there wouldn't be anymore future for thou,  
Thy light is waiting,  
Wait for a little more,  
For thou shalt reunite.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ryuuichi do not have PTSD. He just, managed to suppress the memories down to the point he had forgotten most of it. And yeah, didn't see that coming, did you? I didn't either *slumps*
> 
> The gun was made by Talbot alright. How, please don't ask. Even I myself don't know. And yeah, I decided to have him have the gun as the main weapon.
> 
> I've no idea why, but I kindda really wanna and I did, put Iemitsu into this. I JUST COULDN'T RESIST IT!
> 
> Fun Fact= Although Ryuuichi and Dino have blood relation, there's like, 10 percent only. Distant.
> 
> Fun Fact= Sakura is half Italian half Japanese, dominant Japanese blood. Kei is like, half Italian half Chinese, dominant Chinese blood. So it wasn't much wonder how the twins never suspected that they have Italian and Chinese blood in them. Parents looked too much like typical Asians. Though, something I've never said before. Kei has dark teal eyes. Anymore details on them, well, will be mention one day. Definitely will.
> 
> Ryuuichi himself had kind of wondered why he hadn't realize earlier himself that Sakura and Kei weren't working on an legal job.
> 
> I've deemed Talbot as a very, very old man who has a sense of humor that was as high as Reborn's sadism level. Case close.
> 
> The last one was a tad bit random. Honestly I've no idea why, but I kindda wanna end this chapter with something like that, so I did.
> 
> IKEEPSPOTTINGPLOTHOLESHEREANDTHEREWHATEVEN---
> 
> P/S= Anyone get my point on the title?
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	49. First and Second Key

Tsuna was nervous. That was something quite obvious. He was about to engage in a battle with Enma, why wouldn't he be nervous anyway. Though, the nerves that were wrecking through his being were hidden in sheer determination to get Chrome back. That, and he wanted to talk Enma out of all this. He sincerely believed that Enma would definitely listen to him.

He, Yamamoto, Gokudera and Ryuuichi pushed the raft to the shore, tying it up immediately so that it wouldn't drift away. As they did, he took a brief glance at Ryuuichi, who was looking around, as though he was searching for something.

Last night, he had confronted the teen when Ryuuichi stayed over. (Reborn was around, hidden in the shadow. Tsuna just knew he was there, even if he couldn't see or feel the hitman's presence) He asked him if he were alright, and all, and he had asked if he could know the reason why he didn't interfere. Ryuuichi, as usual, simply gave him a loop sided smile, all too familiar to him, and said that even if Ryuuichi did interfere, he couldn't change the resulting situation, which was this. And Ryuuichi couldn't, as he had pledge alliance to both Vongola and Shimon. It wouldn't do good to side one.

It wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for, but he pried no further. Ryuuichi looked a bit off course. He still is, actually.

They walked further into the island and saw a huge entrance and a long stair up the hill. It didn't exactly looked abandoned, so they figured that there were people living on this island. "You were faster than we expected" They looked up to see Shimon. "We've been waiting, Tsuna-kun"

A certain red head in Hyper Dying Will Mode spoke as he looked down, standing in the middle of the others. "You were right about coming alone. If you had brought along a troop, there would have been more dead bodies to deal with"

Tsuna ignored that and asked for Chrome's safety. Much to their dismay, Julie Katou had answered them, sounding quite perverted. But before anymore were said, Reborn interrupted.

"Wait. Why are they here too? Are you the ones who let those ominous guards onto this island? The guards of the Mafia world" A sudden chill ran down their spine as they snapped their heads to one of the hills. Bandaged men who were holding onto chains stood in their glory. "Vindice!"

"Are they.. Humans?"

"They were, long ago." Adelheid explained to Enma. "Some call them Death Gods, and others call them devils. They are the most feared in the mafia world. Those who defy their rules are arrested without hesitation and are doomed to spend their life in a water prison that cannot be broken out of"

Ryuuichi silently mused at that. 'They're no death god alright'

"I don't recall inviting you to this sacred island! Have you come to mourn for Vongola who will soon meet their end?"

The one in the middle, answered with a voice that sounded so cold that had them freezing for a moment. "No. We live to take revenge. We know no other emotion, besides hatred. We have come here to complete the oath between Vongola Primo, Giotto, and Shimon Cozart." That had their full attention as the Vindice continued.

"Giotto and Cozart were connected by a strong friendship. Thus, it is impossible for Vongola and Shimon to bear swords against one another. However, should there be such case, then it was deemed our duty to destroy the defeated."

It wasn't any misunderstanding to all this, to Tsuna's horror. Everything felt so damn wrong. His intuition screamed. He felt, he knew, oh how much he knew that there was something going on here, and he didn't know a damn thing what it was.

"This oath has been activated twice. The one to lose this battle shall be locked in our prison forever. The dice have been rolled. Descendants of Giotto and Cozart. Let the battle begin!"

Ryuuichi momentarilly took a step back when he felt the Vindice looked directly at him. Even though the man's eyes were bandaged, Ryuuichi could definitely feel eyes on him. He inaudibly gulped and stood still. "Historian. You are allowed to watch the battle close up. However, the oath between Vindice and Historian mustn't be broken"

He slowly nodded. His voice were low, cautious as he replied. "I will. I won't interfere in their battles. You have my word"

"We do." In a blink of an eye, a metal collar latched onto Ryuuichi's throat. The teen reached up and grasped it, instinctively trying to tear it off, but it tighten as he did. He was choked slightly at the sudden grasp and glared at the Vindice. He opened his mouth, trying to ask what the hell was that collar for, but his voice wouldn't come out. His eyes widen, feeling his flames being restrained by something. His flames were trashing inside him, trying to get free, but to no avail. He forced it to calm down.

"We have both your word and your flames. You will be temporarily robbed of them until the battle is over as a precaution."

His eyes narrowed. 'Do you not trust me when I gave you my word?' He knew that they could literally hear his voice, slightly relief when the collar loosen a while after he stopped struggling, but the Vindice chose to ignored it. "If you take a step off the boundary, Historian,  _that collar will crush your throat_ "

He snarled at them. It wasn't strange for the Vindice to be this merciless, even to the Historian. (They might just even kill him) Ryuuichi could barely stop every fiber of his being to not tear the stupid thing off his throat. It was suffocating enough, even though it didn't choke him,  _yet_. He huffed, scowling as he nodded. There was nothing he could do about it. He would just have to wait.

Mist started to surround the Vindice. "We are not here to judge the battle. We do no more than execute the order and the punishments. We shall wait for the moment when the defeated appears. What you must for, in this battle, is your pride. The defeated will be the ones whose pride has been crushed."

\----------------------------------------------------------

For five hours, they have walked in the forest. Each step had Ryuuichi frowning harder and harder until he was practically scowling. There was something wrong with this island. Or rather, to be specific, the whole atmosphere of this island felt... Strange. He didn't notice it at first, but after he walked through the Arch with Tsuna and the others, he felt the difference more and more. No doubt, there's something to do with the Shimon's abilities.

Or perhaps it's just because there was something restraining his flames at the moment. (He didn't exactly need his flames to record things, and Vindice knew that very well. Curse them. He just couldn't get use to having a restrain on, even if his flames have been sealed for years before. And he was already used to having his flames free, dammit)

They suddenly stumbled upon a open ground, when strong wind blew as though there was a storm. That was when Ryuuichi start up his Sight. The leaves blown pass them, cutting them as it did. "These plants were all grown from the blood of the First Shimon Boss, and re-planted here."

Tsuna could barely blink at the suddenly voice, neither could he see clearly at the person. The wind and leaves slowed slightly for them to see, it was still strong, and still cutting. "And now it's time for these plants to drink up Vongola's blood. That's how it is, in the end"

"Aoba Koyo!" Ryohei gritted his teeth. "Why are you doing this, Koyo! I thought we fought like a good sportsmen and understood one and another!"

"It is because a hatred towards Vongola was born within me, that exceeded any understanding we might have had. Besides, I never had any sportsmanship in me to begin with. Do you really think we had the capacity to spend idle time playing sports like you? Thanks to Vongola, we were crushed and crawling around desperately on defeat ground all this time. I've made my decision in order to live! This is my way of taking revenge on you.

"Now then, I'll deal with you all. I can easily defeat you alone."

"We would never team up to fight you! I will fight you one on one, fair and square! That's my pride, as a boxer!"

Ryuuichi smiled at Ryohei's determination. 'And as Koyo's friend, no?'

\----------------------------------------------------------

"Maximum Sunshine Counter!!"

Ryuuichi squinted his eyes at the blinding light, shielding them from the dust from the strong impact with his arms. The wind was stronger than before and it almost blew his away if he didn't have his feet literally planted onto the ground firmly. Slowly, but surely, the wind subsided. It took them a while to spot both Ryohei and Koyo, but when they did, they saw Ryohei still standing despite the bloody wounds. A sense of relief took over them.

"It's not over yet!"

At the opposite, they saw Koyo still standing as well. Both of them were heavily wounded, but their stubbornness had them standing, as their pride were on the line after all. They couldn't believe it. (Well, Ryuuichi could) They each took a shaky step forward, as though they would topple down sooner or later. "They can't have any power left in them!"

Tsuna couldn't understand why they were driving themselves so hard. Why would they- A twinge of pain hit him when Reborn said that it was their pride. True, this is the battle of Prides, he knew that very well. But he doesn't get the point of getting hurt to the point of almost dying just for the sake of a pride. (But he knew, he get it. Because he himself has a pride he couldn't let go, no matter what)

"Koyo!" "Ryohei!"

The two punched, their fist met. For the first time since the beginning of this battle, they both smiled, contented and satisfied, before falling onto the ground. At the thud, Tsuna, Reborn and Gokudera rushed forward, immediately taking action on giving the two medical attention, only to stop by a cold voice they heard hours ago.

"The match has ended"

Chains wrapped around Ryohei and Koyo, dragging them into a dark portal. "I have no regrets.." Ryohei said weakly. "I fought with all my pride.. Don't let them take away your pride, Sawada..."

"Onii-san! What do you mean, my pride?!"

Ryohei replied with amusement. "Ha.. What's with the face? Just let your heart lead the way.. There's nothing to worry about, Sawada.. Because I know- Your pride!" He groaned out when he disappeared through the portal. Tsuna's heart leaped as he wanted to reach out to Ryohei, but he couldn't.

"Thus, we shall leave behind the first key. That was given to use by Cozart and Giotto" A small bag, or pouch, was floating in front of the Vindice. It confused them, for they heard nothing of 'key'.

Bright lights shot out, and they suddenly saw Giotto, Cozart and G. Ryuuichi merely blinked at that, not really surprised that he was seeing it. The memories behind the money bag, the beginning of the friendship of Giotto and Cozart, and the first key to the truth.

"We were told to pass this coin pouch to you by Giotto and Cozart. This is the first, of 'The Seven Keys'"

Ryuuichi sighed, feeling weary. There's still six more to come, and the next one just have to be that kid. Well, he wasn't that worried anyway. (Now, what should he do with the stupid headache?)

\----------------------------------------------------------

When Lambo had disappeared, along with both Gokudera and Tsuna chasing after the child and promptly fell into a hole, Ryuuichi hadn't wake up. He was quite a heavy sleeper, and in addition to his restrained flames, it wore him out more than he had expected. It wasn't until constant yells from the hole nearby and Sora, Kuro and Shiro's growl along with slight shaking shook him awake. His eyes snapped open, a sense of foreboding filled him. He pushed himself up, stumbling as he stood. He was still feeling groggy. He shook his head lightly, slapping himself and walked towards where he deemed the others had fallen into.

And he fell.

He would have yelped loudly if his voice hadn't been taken away. He had fallen into a hole next to the one Tsuna, Gokudera and Reborn were in. They hadn't notice him, or Reborn had. He blinked at the dim dome, peered through one of the holes just in time to see Rauji picking Lambo up and throwing him onto the ground with great strength. He almost immediately scowled, Sight activated without him realizing.

Lambo landed on the ground with a thud. He was muttering his usual catchphrase as he pushed himself from the ground. "En.. Du.. Rance.. Whoa, that was close. I almost cried.." And he turned around so fast they thought his head would just, snapped off his neck. "I got it! Rauji's being shy! Since it's the first time we meet in a little while!" He boisterously shouted, snot and a teeth fallen. It was actually quite relieving that he could still be this positive, even after that.

"Opps! Or could it be a new game that we must lie? 'Play Lie', is it? It begins with 'P', so should we name it 'Poo'?" Ryuuichi double took, sweated at that. He was feeling more awake now. He briefly shook his head, wondering what was that child thinking about.

"Listen, Lambo-san. My boss is only Enma. Enma would never betray me. He's different from a boss of some family." Tsuna's head was down, he could literally feel Rauji's gaze on him. "Contrary to Enma's weak appearance, he's got a strong heart that doesn't wander around. As long as that Enma asked me to fight, I'd fight against anyone with all my might." The trust to the red head was so deep, that even Tsuna was surprised. This had showed that the Shimon has a very tight relationship with each other.

"When I'm done with blood bathing Lambo, I'll kill you guys one by one. Prepare to die"

Lambo just had to make things more difficult, don't he? "Lambo-san is the one that defeats that big idiot Reborn!" Of course, the said hitman was irritated.

He clearly doesn't get the situation, nor did he realize the tension in the air as he rambled on, on playing with Rauji and the others. He then proceed to take random stuffs out of his hair, from stationary, to so called rare cards, to carcasses of dead cicadas. How did the carcasses was in Lambo's hair, they don't know, and Ryuuichi definitely do not want to find out.

"If Rauji wins against Lambo-san, I'll give it to you! Oh but just the wrapping paper~" And a foot came down onto the stuffs in front of Lambo. "No thanks. I've no intention of playing with you"

Lambo started tearing up. "Endurance.. No can do... Play with me!!" Lightning flames shot out from the Stone in his hair. Tsuna gasped, noticing that it was the Vongola Gear, probably going to upgrade, which was pretty amazing. The reason was because of the resolve Lambo had to make Rauji his subordinate and play with him, however, which was quite... Illogical.

Though, it did struck hope in all of them. The stone cracked, and a bright glow surrounded Lambo. When the light dispersed, Lambo was wearing a Helm.

Ryuuichi huffed when Lambo took off his helmet for it was too tight. He sat back, never taking off his eyes on them through the holes. He couldn't help himself but mused on how large Rauji is, comparing to Lambo. But Lambo was merely five, so it was quite reasonable. Then again, if he was to put Rauji and Yamamoto together side by side, Rauji is definitely larger. It wasn't much a surprise that Rauji took advantage of that, by fighting sumo-style.

He shook his head when Lambo immediately accepted. That child was hit off simply by a hand, only to have his bazooka shooting himself. Honestly, his fatigue was getting to him again. Perhaps it was because they were all in the underground and something about the gravity pull and all, he couldn't really grasp it. Those random thoughts were simply passing in his mind. He was feeling sleepy again, but he couldn't sleep. Not until this one finished.

He fiddled with his ring, trying to blink away the sleepiness. Though, he was pretty sure his mind had went to sleep, seeing that whatever he was witnessing and hearing, it didn't even registered in his mind.

Let's just hope he didn't literally fall asleep there, and stuck there until he's finally fully awaken.

\----------------------------------------------------------

_"I love this town.."_  Ryuuichi snapped up, realizing he had somehow, managed to fall asleep with his eyes open. (He would be freaking out about it if it weren't for the voices and picture in his head) He frowned. It was the moment, where Cozart suggested Giotto to form a vigilant group, which turned into a mafia familgia now.

He leaned back onto the wall, rubbing his temple. He stood up from where he was sitting, glaring at Vindice, who 'looked' at him at the same time. If it wasn't for the bandage, he was sure that they would be locking eyes.

'I assume my fatigue was all because of this stupid collar?'

"It might be, it might not. The purpose of the collar is purely to restrain your flames and voice temporarily. Any side effects are unknown"

'And you think I can continue watching without wanting to fall asleep as every minute passed?' A chain shot towards him, passing through one of the small holes. It cut his left cheek as it embedded onto the wall behind him. His reflexes kicked in as his left hand shot up and grasped at the chain tightly. His eyes were wide in surprise, but immediately narrowed at the Vindice.

"It will stay there until everything is over. Do not test our patience,  _Historian_ " Ryuuichi tighten his grasp on the chain before letting go very unwillingly. The Vindice had misunderstood his intention. He had wanted the restriction on his flame  _off_ , rather than his voice. He couldn't really care much about his voice now, seeing that his restricted flames were the one that tired him out so easily. The dude looked as though he would seriously kill him, so he reluctantly backed off. (And Ryuuichi knew that Bermuda is their leader, who probably was the one who ordered them to have this stupid thing attached to his throat.)

Looks like he would have to suffer. Hopefully he won't have to rely on Reborn to wake him up both physically and mentally for the last few days. 'Well, at least they had the second key already' He then groaned.

He suddenly wished that he could punch Bermuda for this.

 

\----- **A part which I wanted to put it in, but there wasn't a suitable place** \-----

Lambo, the teenager Lambo that was blasted from the future in ten years time, glanced at Ryuuichi for a brief moment. He remembered that the Ryuuichi from his time had mentioned something about this (not exactly) as they were eating this one time. The man had somehow fetched him from him and I-Pin from their school because Tsuna or the rest of the Guardians couldn't make it. It kind of annoyed him that they wouldn't let both of them to walk home on their own. They're capable of maiming a full-fledged adult, and could even kill one if they want to, thank you very much!

But no! Tsuna just have to emphasize about safety, and that even though they're capable of taking care of themselves, they should always have someone older, or an adult at this case, to settle some situations and all and blah blah blah, Lambo didn't exactly listen. He understood that Tsuna was just worried about them, and it made his heart swell in happiness, but it gets a bit annoying at times.

(Actually, no. He absolutely loves having one of his beloved brothers or sisters, hell even Reborn, fetching them home. Not that he would ever admit it.)

Back to the point, Ryuuichi had took them to a restaurant for lunch, and they were randomly chatting about stuff, mostly filled with I-Pin asking about Sciences and some facts Lambo doesn't care for the world. The man, then out of nowhere, talked about him getting into these situations, with a very amused tone.

Exactly  _this_  situation.

Mind if he add, Ryuuichi shouldn't have left out the fact that he would probably,  _probably_ , fight with a goddamn giant. (Shh. Don't tell Tsuna-nii he cursed! He didn't want a lecture! Althought Ryuu-nii, Hayato-nii and Takeshi-nii would laughed their butts off.)

'Well, it wasn't as though Ryuu-nii would talk in detail'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Manga- Chapter 302 to 313. .
> 
> Ryuuichi deemed that Ryohei's pride was, of as a boxer, and as Koyo's friend. It was quite obvious, despite the competition, constant shouting at each other, and etc. etc. between those two. They probably haven't even realize that they're friends already.
> 
> Fun fact= I had actually wanted to have Ryuuichi be dragged off by the Vindice, but I kindda changed that. The collar, was something I had thought of last minute, so it was quite hard to.. Elaborate. How the collar looks like, it is up to you all.
> 
> Before I forgotten, I've labeled Ryuuichi's ability to record stuff and so on, as Sight. The others, well. *shrug*  
> 
> That bonus part happened when Lambo and I-Pin was still, ten years old and Ryuuichi was nineteen.
> 
> I'm not sure what TYL Lambo and TYL I-Pin calls the others in ten years time, but in this story, they call them by 'nii-san' or 'nee-san'. Though, TYL Lambo still calls Tsuna and Gokudera, so far as I realize, by 'Young Vongola' and 'Gokudera-shi'.............. What was that 'shi' for again?
> 
> Can I just say that I absolutely love the love between Lambo, Tsuna and the rest of the guardians was just simply, to-die-for? I love it everytime TYL Lambo said about Tsuna and the others as brothers, and that he wanted to hurry and grow up to chase after them and all--- What's with all these fluff!!DJWAICGAWUIHW---
> 
> I.. Think that's all for this chapter?
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	50. Third, Fourth and Fifth Key

_"What is your desire?"_

_"I desire understanding"_

Ryuuichi snapped out of his musing and looked up to the sky. He felt a twinge in his heart. It wasn't his emotions. It was Enma. Enma was in sorrow. Ryuuichi placed a hand on his chest, just above his heart and clenched his shirt, frowning. If he didn't knew better, he would probably freak out on the fact that he could feel the red head's emotions.

It was because of the bond they had, in mafia and in friendship. The connection that was vibrating under their flames' coating was the one that prevented them from actually feeling each other's feeling. And since his flames were temporarily restrained, the coating had lessen a great margin, to the point he could actually  _feel_  them. (He realized this when he was flooded by a bunch of emotions and feelings from the three familgia's boss all at once. Dino's was the faintest, but it was there. Tsuna and Enma's pulsated the hardest. No doubt, it would be worst later on.)

He sighed inaudibly, pushing the emotions down. He felt as though he was invading Enma's privacy. (He had a hunch that years later, not only he himself but the others as well, could strongly feel each other through their bonds. The perks of flames, huh)

"Let's take some rest on top of the hill" Gokudera suggested. They had been walking up and down for quite a while anyway. No doubt they were all tired.

Tsuna agreed, silently relief that the bomber suggested that. If he didn't, he might just collapse. Just as they reached the hill top, Tsuna spotted a town. It didn't really take them long to immediately went down.

"Seems like no one's here..." Ryuuichi glanced around warily. He didn't exactly liked abandoned town or buildings. It just creeps him out. A lot. He kept walking, not really focusing on the others as all his attention was on the houses and all. One of the houses caught his interest, as he made a beeline to it.

This particular house doesn't seemed like the others. It looked similar though, but it was the vibe that this house gave off. He scanned the house, totally oblivious to the fact that Tsuna and Gokudera spotted Shitt P. He then noticed the name plate on it, and touched it gently.

'Now that I think about it... This Island was inhabited by Cozart when he and his family left Italy...' He absentmindedly caressed black name plate, name of who, he couldn't recognize. He wasn't exactly sure of the timeline and all, but he was certain that Shimon Family left Italy earlier than Vongola Primo. Does that mean Giotto had met up with Cozart after the man himself left Italy too? Or they didn't.

"Rocket Bomb! Version X!" He snapped out if and turned around, to see dynamites flying towards Shitt P. He sweated lightly and quickly started his Sight. He seriously need to stop spacing out and tuned the world off.

Those bombs were improved, in the aspect of speed and power. Somehow the speck and shape changed too. Ryuuichi was sure that it would cause fatal injuries if anyone was to hit directly by it. Though, the girl wasn't even fazed by it. Either she knew of the improvement and knew she could escape from it, or she didn't.

"So cute, Gokudera-kun. You're really weak" She lit up her ring and eight claw like legs appeared from her back. All of the legs shot something towards the dynamites. Gokudera was surprised when his dynamites not only diffused, but melted too. She then unarmed herself and charged towards the bomber, hugging him.

"You're warm, Gokudera-kun. Warm warm (Naive)." The bomber yelled at her, but she didn't detached herself as she continued to speak. "However, Gokudera-kun. Living cozily with others is a proof of your weakness. Saying that for people and for Juudaime is just an excuse of your reason to live. You're relying on others because you're not confident in yourself. At this rate, if you lose Juudaime, you have no reason to live and become like a corpse.

"I also have people I like. I like Enma, Adelheid, Kaoru, Rauji and Koyo. I don't know about Julie.. But I like Gokudera-kun too, since you're so cute. But I come first. My sense, my way of thinking, my style, my boobs, my thighs. It's all self-respect." She moved to look at Gokudera in the eyes. "I love myself the most." And she maneuvered herself up by Gokudera's shoulders and broke one of the balloons with her boots.

"Dammit!" Just as Gokudera was about to counter back, the ground he was standing turned muddy. He stumbled, almost falling down. "My flame is Earth's Seventh Tribute, Flame of Swamp. I can ferment any inorganic substance and create a bottomless swamp"

Gokudera clicked his tongue. He was sinking, and the only way to get out of the muddy swamp was to blow himself out. It didn't took him long enough to use air bomb, which he successfully got out of it and landed away from it.

"However, since Gokudera-kun lives for the sake of Sawada Tsunayoshi, his heart is fragile. Gokudera-kun, shall I have you see directly that you're usually deceiving yourself and trying not to see the reality that 'No matter what you think, Sawada Tsunayoshi is no good at all, right?'"

She then proceeded ranting about how stupid Tsuna is, claiming that he's a , practically failing in every subject, et cetera, et cetera. Ryuuichi found it quite unnerving on how she knew all that so well, and deducted that she's a stalker. 'An eccentric stalker, I must say'

The brunette was downhearted. Everything Shitt. P had said was true. He's practically an idiot. He tried to not be one! He definitely did! But everything just backfired, until Reborn came, that is. The hitman's arrival practically changed his life upside down. Though, he would sometimes wonder if his friends are disappointed at him.

"Is that all?" He snapped his head up towards Gokudera so fast that one would thought his head would fallen off his neck. A dynamite blasted the girl from behind, one of her balloon popped.

"Before I tell you that, I'll make it clear. Of course I know all of Juudaime's no good parts that you mentioned. So what about it? That's only a small part of Tenth. That's nothing to do with the part of Juudaime that I admired as the Vongola Juudaime"

Ryuuichi smiled, leaning against the wall. He, for some reason, felt proud of Gokudera. The bomber had came a long way. Tsuna and his guardians, Reborn and the others, practically everyone had came a long way until this point in life. Even Ryuuichi himself.

'Our time will always keep running'

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi closed his eyes, a ghost tear fallen. Shitt. P was hauled away by Vindice, with Enma trying to help her but failed. Ryuuichi's heart hurt so much that he practically had to stop himself from tearing it out. Enma's rage and agony was stronger than before. He all but wanted to comfort the red head, but he couldn't. It he were to interfere, who knows what the Vindice might do. He rather stay in vast dry land rather than a small water tank trapped for who knows how long, thank you very much.

In addition, Tsuna's own feeling was increasingly similar to Enma's, but the brunette's held a pain and concern for Enma, not just the rest of his guardians. Ryuuichi knew that the brunette had long taken Enma as his friend, his family, his precious, even if the brunette himself hadn't realize it.

Ryuuichi breathed in deeply. He glared with all he could at Julie, who arrived with Adelheid who wanted to stop Enma. The red head was going to cause havoc, and they all knew it. His emotions were making him lose control.

'So much for wanting to ignore this feelings'

He's going to punch Vindice the first moment he get. And that shit-face. And perhaps Checkerface as well.

He jumped away, narrowly dodged the flying debris from the fight. He cursed lightly when he missed a step and fallen onto the ground. He groaned and pushed himself up again. He clicked his tongue at the slight pain on his ankle but quickly dismissed it upon Enma's words.

"Isn't the crest on your gloves proof of the Vongola? That's who you'll always be. You're at the center of the Vongola, and have been benefiting the most from the Vongola's power. And then, when the going gets tough, you escape from the responsibility. Wielding the Vongola's crest, getting others involved, hurting them, then saying that you won't succeed as the boss. You hope too much"

"No! I didn't mean to hurt others! I want to use this power to protect my friends! That's how it's been until now, and always will be!"

"A fraud like Primo. You liar. Do you seriously think you can escape this bloody fate? Even though that blood's curse is definite."

"Wha-? What are you talking about, Enma?!"

"Let me tell you this, Sawada Tsunayoshi. You're not only the descendant of Vongola Primo who betrayed the First Shimon.. You are the son of Sawada Iemitsu,

"The man who killed my parents and my sister!"

The brunette was taken aback. 'No! Lies!' His intuition screamed, but Enma's tears was genuine. The fire burning in those red eyes were genuine too. So real, that he couldn't help but believed. His flames, out of shock, dispersed.

'No...  _ **Why?**_ '

\------------------------------------------------------

Honestly, Ryuuichi couldn't stand Tsuna's blank face anymore. He had been wanting to talk the brunette out of it as they walked the stairs, continuing the journey. He goddamn would even slap a sense or two into his mind, if not he was rendered temporary mute. Man, if that doesn't annoys Ryuuichi anymore than it could, Tsuna was practically selectively mute for the time being.

He grabbed Tsuna's arm, then grabbed his cheeks so that he would face him and looked directly in the brown eyes. He twitched again at the blank look and slammed his forehead to the brunette's so hard that Tsuna literally fell on his behind.

He looked down at him, crossing his arms, body language screaming irritated. He mouthed. "Idiot"

He clicked his tongue again, peering up the sky just in time to see a helicopter flying above them before it left. Ryuuichi turned away and walked, taking the lead this time.

For some reason, he wanted to hug someone so badly right now.

\--------------------------------------------------------

A Hibari Kyouya appeared. No, literally, he appeared. From the helicopter they saw a moment ago. The prefect jumped down from the helicopter and landed right in front of Ryuuichi. He do  _not_  need that. His heart practically leaped in surprise at Hibari's landing.

He sweated a little when Hibari sized him up, very well aware that the grey orbs narrowed murderously at the collar on his neck. Hibari's eyes met him, his arms moving slightly as though he was going to take his tonfa out and  _destroy_  that collar. He took a small step back and shook his head.

'Dude. Did his eyes just narrowed even more?' How the prefect did it, he absolutely didn't want to know.

True, Hibari was pissed at the sight of that bloody object around Ryuuichi's neck. It didn't help when Ryuuichi wouldn't allow him to take it off. If he didn't knew better, he would've thought that Ryuuichi actually liked having that collar. No. He could tell that he was forced to wear that godforsaken thing. Oh someone's going to  _pay_.

"This is not important at the moment. Concentrate on your battle, Hibari" The teen mouthed. Hibari practically wanted to snap back that how was that not important and why the hell he wasn't using his voice, but he knew that it really wasn't the time. He glared at Ryuuichi a moment before turning to Adelheid.

"Where's the other one?" His tone definitely sounded annoyed, rather than amused, much to Ryuuichi's chagrin. "The little animal that ran wild during the Inheritance Ceremony?"

"Let's get this straight. That despicable Vongola boss is nothing like the Shimon boss, Enma. Don't you dare group them together!" Ryuuichi would probably face palm at Adelheid, (un)fortunately, he didn't. He rather not explain or say anything to her currently, as if he could speak anyway. He really doubt that Hibari grouped Enma and Tsuna together. The prefect didn't. Really. However,

"Is there any difference, ecology-wise?" 'Goddammit Hibari' Ryuuichi took a double take and was sporting a very blank, deadpanned face at that.

"Enma is not here. But since you came, I shall defeat you. I challenge you, Hibari Kyouya"

"Fine by me. Previously, in the fight on the rooftop, I saw the size of the fangs of the beast that you are. You can never bite me to death. But well, it's enough for me to vent out my frustration on a lump of meat"

\---------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna was still trying to grasp the fact that Hibari,  _ **the**_ Hibari Kyouya, had actually said that his face was dull. Perhaps it was because of what happened with Enma, but still. Hibari  _noticed_  and  _voiced_  it out as if he  _cares_. (Actually, he does) And hell, does Hibari looked handsome in his Vongola Gear. A freaking altered chouran.

So should Tsuna be afraid that Hibari was probably targeting him for something, or that he found Hibari handsome?

His train of thoughts was broken when he noticed that the fight was beginning, and moved to have a closer look. Hibari did told him to watch his fight. The prefect probably wanted to convey something in his fight.

Ryuuichi tried to suppress the shiver down his spine at Hibari's actions. He really did. But it still ran through him like electricity. He internally squealed and definitely had his Sight up. Damn Hibari for being so cool and that pair of tonfa. (It's awesome) He reluctantly took his gaze off Hibari and watched Adelheid forming ice by the water fall, freezing the whole thing up and creating Diamond Castle.

"Diamond Castle is strengthen by a coating of glacier flame. So it can withstand any physical attacks. Also, because of its 'freezing' ability, it can withstand all flame attacks. Even an attack on the same level as Sawada Tsunayoshi's X-Burner is useless."

Adelheid was well-aware that the Vongola Cloud Guardian wasn't fazed by her castle's defense. If he was, she would be very disappointed in him.

"Heh. Looks like it's worth biting you off after all. But how are you planning on taking my arm band if you're trapped inside that ice?"

"I'm not the one who's going to take it from you"

The water beneath Hibari's feet rippled slightly, when hundreds of ice blizzardroids rose from it, all taking shape of Adelheid. Even its strength were the same as Adelheid's. One Adelheid was troublesome enough, but 500? Deep, very deep inside Tsuna, he was relief that he wasn't up against her, not when his X Burner probably wouldn't work.

And then the puppets charged towards Hibari, to be slashed into pieces in just split seconds.

"Wha-?! What the?!"

A very long chain spiralled around Hibari, the one that cut down the blizzardroids that charged towards him. Once it was down, the chain retracted back into the tonfa, clanking back into place. "You merely defeated seven of them. Don't let it get into your head. There are still 493 blizzardroids left. Even you will surely exhaust all your stamina. It is impossible for you to reach me"

How wonderful of her to underestimate Hibari. "Impossible? It seems that you have not yet realized the magnitude of what you are dealing with. Because I put my arm band at stake, you had better be more than prepared."

"The word 'discipline' is something that I will never give up, no matter what. But it's not because it is my pride that I will not give it up. It's because I cannot give it up. That's why it's my pride. Wait for me."

The blood thirst rose. "I will bite you to death soon."

\---------------------------------------------------------

"It's because there's a sky that clouds can float freely. But someday even that sky will also be bitten to death"

Ryuuichi was grinning creepily, so creepy that he himself found it scary. Not to mention that his jaw was hurting from all the smiling. But  _ **god**_ , was Hibari phenomenal. From the spikes, to the cuffs, to his tonfa and his intense eyes. Ryuuichi couldn't describe the joy and excitement he felt for all this. He's not all ready for all this awesomeness.

It wasn't until the Vindice came and gave them the Fourth key that he snapped out of it. The truth was clear as daylight, and Julie along with Chrome who hid by the trees were found by Hibari.

'I want to punch him, but I can't. How-' His eyes widen momentarily upon a small glow by Julie- no. Daemon when he revealed himself. He looked to the others, noting that they didn't saw the glow, now circling by Daemon and Chrome, more on Chrome, as if trying to wake the girl up from whatever she was influenced by.

Even Daemon himself didn't noticed the glow.

The glow stopped circling, floated in front of Daemon. Ryuuichi suspected that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the glow dimmed slightly.

'Is that...?'

His heart dropped. Should he be in his past life, he would be wondering what kind of sappy angst drama this was, but now, he couldn't. Not when this was real. Daemon.. Daemon should have pass long ago, but his soul remained rooted on earth, as so said for the sake of Vongola. Generations through generations, he never really passed.

And because his fragment still remained,  _she_  didn't either, faithfully waiting for him.

Silently, he prayed for their happiness after all this situations.

"I won't forgive you!" He blinked, the glow wasn't there anymore. Kaoru, appearing out of nowhere, or at least they didn't realize it, stabbed Daemon from the back. "How dare you trick us! How dare you do that to Koyo, to Rauji, to Shittopi-chan. to Adelheid..."

"We Shimon are not your toys!!"

But that Daemon in front of him disappeared, appearing behind him and stabbed him with his staff. Despite the blood, the Daemon Kaoru had stabbed was an illusion. The blood he spilled and the pain he himself felt, however, was real.

"The mist ability of the seven sky attribute isn't the only thing I can do. I can also freely use the desert ability of the seven earth attribute. You are not in the same league as I am, Mizuno Kaoru."

\---------------------------------------------------------

The sound of metal hitting metal resonated more louder to Ryuuichi. A weight that he didn't realized was there was lifted. He breathed out upon the sight of Yamamoto.

"This is a surprise. You should be mortally wounded"

Yamamoto laughed, not the laid-back and cheerful type, but one that held hints of seriousness. "My redeeming feature is my 'vitality' after all." He moved his katana, pushing Daemon back a few feet. "You okay, Kaoru?!"

The said teen couldn't believe it. The same teen he had almost killed saved him. The same person he wanted be friends with, and the same person who he had to eliminate because he saw the crossed out Vongola crest, and yet, he saved him. "Wh- why?! Why'd you save me?! I tried to kill you! Why did you save me, Yamamoto?!"

Yamamoto smiled. "What are you talking about? You were really in trouble, so I came to help. That's what friends are for, right?" Kaoru's heart swelled in both happiness and guilt. Happy that Yamamoto regarded him as a friend, guilty because he tried to murder his  _friend_. Tears, like a broken dam, fell freely down his cheeks.

"Ya- Yamamoto... I'm sorry.." "Haha~ Just leave it to me"

"What's going on? I don't believe this. By all means he should be wounded in critical condition, but Yamamoto Takeshi is here standing right before my eyes" Daemon was quite surprised, yet he was intrigued. It wasn't everyday you see someone in E.R, struggling and the next day, that person is standing, laughing and smiling.

"You're some ancient ghost who should have died long, long time ago. So look who's talking!"

"Well, you don't appear to be an illusion"

Yamamoto's eyes glinted. "I happened to be saved by an old acquaintance of mine. Oh and Ryuu, he said 'Thanks'." Ryuuichi grunted with a nodded. He knew who Yamamoto was talking about after all. Though, why would he say thanks, Ryuuichi didn't know.

For some reason, Ryuuichi zoned out again. He was distracted by the mist surrounding them, and the blank look on Chrome. He half wanted to touch the mist out of curiosity, the other half wanted to go grab Chrome, but he stayed put. He really couldn't remember what comes next, after Vindice gave them the Fifth Key.

Speaking of Vindice, they appeared again.

They captured the injured Kaoru, claiming that his pride has already broke. The moment when Daemon took things to his own hands and created chaos, along with the moment when the rest of the First Vongola Guardians appeared and aided Cozart and his family. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow when he saw Caelum as well. 'Whaddaya know. He fought as well'

Now, Ryuuichi would just lay back and watch. He might help, but not at this moment.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 314 to half of Chapter 328. I'll continue the other half of it at the next chapter.
> 
> Ryuuichi being able to feel the other's feeling was kind of inspired by other fanfics (mostly angst, actually) that Tsuna's guardian was able to feel something when something happened to Tsuna and whatsoever. I find that so endearing and lovely, so why not?
> 
> Right. First thing first. I CAN ABSOLUTELY NOT CALM DOWN ON HIBARI'S AWESOMENESS. NOT EVEN WHEN HE FALL ASLEEP IMMEDIATELY AFTER DAEMON AND CHROME RETREATED.
> 
> I was thinking of having Ryuuichi seeing ghost but that would be too scary so nope. Stay as glows. Though, that glow was an exception as well. Ryuuichi can't see the soul slash glow unless he was the one who ended the life and cast the judgement. However, I need to tweak that. So,
> 
> Ryuuichi will only see the soul if he were to cast a judgement. Those who he killed, well, won't be seen unless he cast a judgement on them as well.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	51. Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Key

"You're an idiot" Ryuuichi hissed, wincing. "Well, sorry for not noticing that I've a freaking swollen ankle, senpai" He mouthed, rolling his eyes only to wince again, knee bucking slightly. Hibari glared, pressing his ankle harder. "Why are you mute?" He rolled the tape around Ryuuichi's ankle. That would have to do until they're back to Namimori.

Ryuuichi sighed in relief when Hibari finally set his leg down. The prefect had literally sat him down far away from where Tsuna and the rest had gathered by the fire when he fell down again. That time, very well aware that he injured his ankle. It wasn't sprained, which was a fortunate thing. Though, he won't be able to walk without shifting his leg in a position that it won't hurt.

He blinked at Hibari's sudden question. He pointed at the collar, thinking that it might be a mistake of sort since Hibari's eyes narrowed again. He frowned slightly and grabbed the prefect's hand. He then wrote in English slowly. "A condition for me to watch the battles this close is to have this collar on. It just temporary rob away my voice, so it's no big deal. I'll get my voice back soon"

A condition for the Historian to stay on stage.

Hibari surprisingly hated that title Ryuuichi held. Because of that, the small animal needed to participate in these dangerous things, and the price of participation was important. The first time he found himself hating it was when he spotted Ryuuichi mourning for the dead from the future era, namely for the so-called sky Arcobaleno. The teen had went to the Reception room while he was out on patrol, looking out the window all solemn. He even saw him crying for them. It was a brief moment, but he still saw it.

The second, was when Ryuuichi found out that his parents are in mafia. Hibari didn't liked the look on his face. If only Ryuuichi wasn't an Historian, and wasn't invited to the inheritance Ceremony, he wouldn't know the truth. But Hibari knew that it's better for him to know it earlier. 

The next was this, Ryuuichi losing his voice. It bothered Hibari more than he anticipated. Perhaps it was making him more frustrated than he already was.

He sighed inaudibly, flicking Ryuuichi's forehead. "Still an idiot" He ignored the younger's pout and lay down on the ground, pulling Ryuuichi down with him. "Sleep"

Ryuuichi sweated, feeling deja vu once again. Seriously, the number of times he felt deja vu in one year plus is quite creepy. He would have struggled away, but the arms holding him down was too strong. He himself felt tired as well, so he gave in. In just moments, he felt himself drifting into slumber.

_"Please, stop him. I beg of you"_

\----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi's eyes snapped open in surprise. 'This-' His eyes widen, jaws slaken. No doubt about it, Ryuuichi would probably scream out loud if he has his voice. He almost fell down when he jumped in shock and quickly wound his hands around Hibari's neck when he felt the gravity pulling him down. He huffed, calming down his heart. He frowned at the ground.

He turned to glare at Hibari, to find his face was too near his and moved backward faster than he had even done. He was very well aware that his face was red, there wasn't any need for you to be this amuse, Hibari. "Stop moving around. You'll fall" He narrowed his eyes at Hibari.

"What the hell?" He mouthed.

"You were dead asleep no matter how we tried to wake you up, so this is the only choice" What loads of crap. Hibari could have just, piggy back him or pass him to Gokudera or whoever- instead of carrying him bridal style! Like, why!? And he was heavy, so why would Hibari do that when he clearly would get tired?

"And you're too light." Ryuuichi was about to punch Hibari, but he felt as though he was hit by a truck or something. He winced, rubbing his temple. He then blinked in realization, and turned towards where Hibari was facing. He paled a little at Enma. He gulped, and patted Hibari on the shoulder to let him down.

Once he was standing still, he breathed in, and had his Sight up. Black holes. There were black holes. It was probably from the sphere that caused Tsuna not being able to fly straight. The brunette tried to fly off the black holes' suction, but it just his power and strength away.

Natsu, who was on his shoulder growled. "Don't underestimate me, Enma. I'm different than the me you knew before. Natsu! Cambio Forma!"

\----------------------------------------------------------

"Can you hear me, Enma?! I'm here! Here I am!!"

The voice was familiar to Enma. So familiar, and so warm. 'My.. Friend?' Memories came back to him, the brunette that showed him warm that no one had given him so unconditionally, other than the rest of the Shimon Family. Even so, Tsuna had showed so much more.

He snapped out of it. The color and life in his eyes came back to him. "Tsuna-kun!" He winced, holding his head. His eyes widen when he realized that Vongola Primo never betrayed Cozart. So all this time, he misunderstood? Was he used?

"It's okay now. I came to save you" Happiness flooded Enma.

"Tsuna-kun.. Just like Vongola Primo, you didn't betray me... But" His eyes wavered. "It's no good.. It's too late.. I can't control- my own power anymore.." A black hole appeared on his chest, getting bigger and bigger, everything in. "Run for it! Everyone's going to get killed!"

"No! I'm going to save you! I'm going to do it!"

Ryuuichi scowled at the void of the black hole. He had this thing against black hole, even though he find it fascinating. He glanced at Tsuna, who was muttering Operation XX to his headphone, crossing his arms. Soft flames flared off the back of his red glove as he rose the combustion level.

The brunette had Spanner alter his headphone and lens, for this move. He had thought of it before, and wondered if it would work- no. It will definitely work! He roared and hard flames blasted out, Natsu's head formed.

"XX Burner!" The sheer intensity the flames gave off almost blew them back, almost. They could even feel the heat given out from the flame, even when they were so far away.

"I'll save you no matter what! My pride is at stake!"

And suddenly, dust and smoke surrounded the brunette and the red head, small debris or rock flew here and there. Ryuuichi coughed, covering his mouth and nose from the dust, squinting his eyes to see.

They could hear exclamation of pain from Tsuna along with Natsu's growls. Yamamoto and Gokudera rushed towards him just as they were able to see him. At the opposite of where Tsuna was, Enma coughed, hair blast up like he just went into a hurricane.

Natsu immediately ran towards him as he fixed his hair. Tsuna followed suit in just matters of second, relief. "I thought you had disappeared! I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Tsuna-kun... I'm sorry" Enma closed his eyes. "Because of our mistakes, all of this happened"

He didn't actually expected Tsuna to forgive him. But then again, this was Tsuna he's talking about, the ever forgiving Sky.

"Can I ask you one thing, Tsuna-kun? You said 'My pride is at stake'.. What exactly is your pride, Tsuna-kun?"

Tsuna hummed. "Oh, is that all?" He grinned whole heartily. "My pride is you. To tell you the truth, from the time I got here until now, I had no idea what it was.. Until just now, I hadn't even thought about pride for a moment.. I didn't even think that I was capable of having something amazing like that..

"But Hibari-san... He thought me that pride is something that you can't ever surrender. If that's what pride is, then I can answer sincerely and confidently. My pride is my comrades, my friends!" 

Ryuuichi smiled. One down, another one to go. Vindice better release his restrain later or he would go havoc on them.

\----------------------------------------------------------

_"Why don't we stay quiet about everything that happened here? Our Shimon Family was killed in the battle with Vongola. What if we just let that be the truth?"_

_"What are you saying, Cozart?!"_

_"I have this strong feeling that getting rid of that man Daemon won't be a simple task. If we were to try and eliminate Daemon Spade, there would be much sacrifice involved. On the other hand, if Daemon continues to live, we Shimon would become your weak point. So if we just disappear from this world and went into hiding, then everything would be just fine, right?"_

_Giotto's voice got louder and louder. "Do you understand what you're saying, Cozart?! To disappear from the world and continuing to live on in the shadow, what so heroic and grand about that?!"_

_"You don't need to worry, we're pretty reclusive people after all."_

_"What about your children?! You plan to just have your future generation carry that burden?!"_

_"I do"_

_Giotto scowled harder. "Our family is not weak." He wanted to say something, make his friend change his mind, but the determination and trust in Cozart's eyes rendered him speechless. He gritted his teeth. Cozart making this decision was all because of him. All because of him...._

_"Fine.." He gritted out._

_"But I want you to swear something to me. That as long as Vongola exists, the Shimon will always be there in the shadow supporting us"_

_Cozart smiled. "In that case, I swear. The Shimon family feels no resentment or bitterness towards the Vongola family for this incident. No matter what ever happens, from now until the end of time, our family will always be close." Giotto smiled as well._

_At the same time, two parties that they hadn't expected, appeared._

_"You've said the words. Now I must uphold the mafia law.. Giotto-kun and Cozart-kun."_

_"Now now, Bermuda. Don't be so uptight" Caelum joked slightly, blue eyes glinting and a hand on his hips._

\----------------------------------------------------------

A cold chill ran down Enma's spine. Vindice, with their chains rattling appeared. Enma narrowed his eyes. If they were to get him and Julie, he will fight til the end with them.

"Nay, that needs to be set aside. An emergency situation has risen there. Rokudo Mukuro's possess body has gone berserk. It's destroying our prison. Daemon Spade has acquired Rokudo Mukuro's body and has broken out of his confines. It's only matters of time before a jailbreak occurs. Daemon Spade would come here first, to eradicate you, the future generation of Vongola.

"We could handle the situation with our power, but that's something we'd like to avoid. You should be the ones to deal with Daemon Spade. Long ago and even now, Daemon Spade is a member of the Vongola Family. What has driven him all the way to this point is his duty to the Vongola"

Reborn found it weird. It wasn't like the Vindice to let others deal with their prisoners, even if they're possessed. It wasn't like Vindice at all to even entrust them with it. He couldn't help but feel as though someone was pulling the strings. And the clear pacifier as well...

Tsuna had somehow predicted what would happen, and was planning to take things into his own hands. "The battle between the Vongola and the Shimon is negated! Please release everyone of the Vongola and the Shimon from your prison!" If that's what they want them to do, he will. But he wanted an exchange. And an exchange he will get.

"And what about you, Kozato Enma?"

"I want the same thing!"

Vindice stayed silent for a moment. "That look.. Just like Cozart and Giotto back then.. Does this mean you oath to each other has made it all the way to the Tenth Generation. Very well. If you defeat Daemon.. I will release your family members from our prison." The middle one pulled away a bandage from his eyes. His hair flew freely. (It somehow reminded Ryuuichi of medusa but shh!)

Their eyes widen in recognition. It was the Vindice from the past memories they saw. "An avenger, shining with the same radiance as  _Bermuda_." Ryuuichi stepped forward immediately. He couldn't waste anytime now. Not when Daemon would arrive anytime soon.

'Vindice. Release me now. It's all over, is it not?' The same person who gave them their word, stared at Ryuuichi. "Historian.. Do you intend to join the fight?"

'Depends. But you've promised that you will release me when the battles are over. Now that the battles ended, you have to keep your promise'

The man waved his hand, and the collar disintegrated into thin air. Ryuuichi blinked in surprise, overwhelmed by the sudden release. His flames were somehow screaming in freedom. He felt his voice returned to him as he placed a hand on his throat. "Thank you" He cringed a little at his hoarse voice. "Do  _not_ do that next time. When I give you my word, I  _give you my word_. Don't underestimate it" He glared at him.

The man seemed to be amused at his declaration, but he and the other Vindice members could clearly understand the underlying message. ' _You are not my superior, you cannot control me. Get you frigging facts straight, Vindice_ '

( _"Good grief. He's just the same as Caelum-kun"_ )

A force suddenly crashed onto the building they were in.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi suddenly found himself doing something stupid. He had purposely jumped into the large card Hibari had went into. He didn't know why, but he did. So he ended up in a void, cards everywhere. He glanced around, not seeing the prefect anywhere. Perhaps he had somehow accidentally split up with him.

He sighed ruffling his hair of the hair tie. He retied his hair, and huffed. He really need to release an amount of flame. He glanced around, checking again to see if the others were around him, only to find none.

'Good' He smirked. He let out Kuro, Shiro, and Sora. It had been a while since he last let them out. They growled, at first in delight to be out but it immediately turned to guarded one. They were in enemy's trap, after all. "Kuro, Shiro, Sora. Please help me protect the others. Just in case" They were reluctant to leave Ryuuichi alone here, but went with it anyway. They knew very well that he can take care of himself.

"Now that's done..." He cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders. He grinned almost in glee.

"Let's see what this place can do~"

(Outside of Daemon's trap, Tsuna and Enma was fighting against Daemon. The latter formed black holes to Daemon, who split up into six forms, for Tsuna to burn him down. Though, it was a little bit creepy seeing him fighting in Mukuro's body.)

He lifted up his right hand, his Historian Ring glinted and large purple flame flared off. He randomly chose one side and placed his right hand on the wall. He felt his flames pulsated against the wall, which he presumed, coated with mist flames, and pushed it up. He kept releasing the flames until purple branches shot out, moving across the wall and each cards. He blinked, peering up to see what it had formed.

His eyes widen

The word 'Vongola' and 'Elena' formed. He looked back at his hands again. 'Is this what Daemon had in his mind all these years?' Then again, it wasn't much a surprise, for the man is a love-sick fool.

He smiled briefly, but it dropped.

He continued releasing more flames. He frowned when he noticed that there wasn't any change. He stopped, and took his hand away from the wall. He wondered for a moment, and was about to try again when memories of Cozart and Giotto came to his mind. 'Tsuna must have gotten the Seventh key'

_"Caelum?! Why are you here? And what-"_

_"Calm down, Giotto. Let them talk first"_

_"Thank you, Caelum-kun. From here on, if the Vongola and Shimon should ever compete against each other, we shall deliver punishment."_

_"What are you talking about?! This has nothing to do with you people! Even if you're the keeper of law."_

_"These laws apply to all of you, especially you, Giotto-kun. We keepers of pacifiers, the Arcobaleno, and you Vongola, our destinies shall be forever intertwined. This even includes your descendants"_

_Giotto protested, but was stopped by Cozart. "It's fine, Giotto. Let's go ahead and make an oath with them. Our families will never have any quarrel.. Not today, not tomorrow, never. If we don't break the oath, then there's no problem. We can believe in our children"_

_"If this oath is ever broken, the family bosses and guardians shall fight with their pride on the line. We shall imprison the loser of those fights until the day they die"_

_"That's fine by me, but I have one condition. After each battle that occurs, I want the Vongola and Shimon descendants to learn of our true history."_

_"After all the history has been told, if both families' hatred has still not dissolved, then you're free to roast them, burn them, or do whatever it is you plan to do. However, if both families once again return to their true friendship, if they prove that they honor this oath, their wills will become one, and our flames will burn!"_

_Caelum looked at Bermuda once, and nodded in approval. "As the Historian, the ones after me shall watch upon the battles, if it does occurs. However, you can_ not _do anything to the Historian, Bermuda" He glared at the bandaged Arcobaleno._

Ryuuichi blinked. He glanced at his ring. 'Looks like Bermuda wasn't exactly keeping his promise to Caelum' He shrugged and clenched his fist. He lit up his Sky flame instead. A large spinning, transparent sphere encaged Ryuuichi. Outside the sphere, a strong hurricane blew, with him in the dead center. He glanced up and down.

'It looks like a bottomless and topless place, but surely there's an end- Ah'

He felt the hurricane hitting something hard and looked up. His eyes raised an eyebrow when he saw the hurricane in the cards on the wall.

'What in the exact hell?'

The cards were overturned, and pictures blew past each one. Ryuuichi's eyes widen once again, in recognition. These were all Giotto and the other First Generation, most of Elena. He breathed out in frustration. Just how attached was Daemon? He knew he was damn attached, but Ryuuichi didn't realize he was rooted deep. Daemon, he had somehow misunderstood him. Daemon was foolish for betraying Giotto, yes, but he was foolish to be blinded by death.

Just because his fiancee, Elena, died and her last wish was to see Vongola's success, he created a chaos. He, consumed by grief, couldn't see that he still have his friends by his side. But nevertheless, Ryuuichi knew that Daemon loved them. He loved Elena, he loved the Vongola, he loved the rest of his comrades, even Caelum, as he had saw. No matter how much anguish he felt, that feeling will never change.

Ryuuichi tilted his head down and slowed the hurricane to a stop.

" _An idiot, isn't he?_ " He looked up again. Elena, glowing in white and slightly transparent, smiled fondly at him. No, at Daemon to be exact.

Ryuuichi chuckled. "I guess he is" Elena giggled softly. " _Thank you_ "

"I've done nothing though" She shook her head. " _You did. You noticed me. Thank you for that. And thank you for releasing us_ " Ryuuichi wondered what she meant by that. Another glow joined Elena, and Daemon appeared. Similar to Elena, he was glowing in white and slightly transparent.

" _Elena-!_ " Daemon embraced her tightly, tears cascading down his cheeks. Ryuuichi smiled at the scene. They finally reunited after so,  _so_  long.

It surprised him slightly when Daemon smiled at him. He hadn't expect that. " _Thank you, Historian_ " He nodded, still couldn't understand why would Daemon thank him. This pair really confuses him- Or not. " _Please, can you do us one last favor?_ "

"I would want to punch you first," Daemon's smile dropped. "But... I'll make an exception. So, sure." The smile brighten back onto his face.

" _Then, p_ _lease let us reincarnate. Elena and I haven't spend enough time with each other_ " Ryuuichi chuckled. "Of course." They both looked so grateful that he didn't what to do. (He had half the mind to take out his phone and take a picture to have this moment last) " _Thank you_ " They said in unison and turned into glows, both floating side by side in front of Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi smiled, shaking his head slightly. "What a couple you both are..." He placed his hands under the glows. "Reincarnate, memories shall be erased from existence, left only the loving heart both have" It pulsed and burst into indigo sparks with a little tad bit of blue. "I wish for both your eternal bond and happiness" He muttered, watching the sparks disperse into nothing.

One second later, he was standing in what he presumed the ruins of the circular building they was once in. He looked around and saw the rest, along with the Shimon, gathered for a talk or whatsoever. All of them were happy, despite what they had gone through. He looked up to the sky.

'I wonder why things are getting onto me more than I've expected..' He tilted his head over to them again and saw Vindice appearing. It was then he decided to approach them.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Yuuichi was shocked awake when he felt a warm body in his bed around 3 in the morning. There shouldn't even be anyone other than himself at home. He would have jumped out of his bed if not for the familiar arms holding him down by his waist. "Continue sleeping, Yuu" His eyes widen at the sleepy drawl, and turned to see Ryuuichi in a grey T-shirt and knee-length shorts.

"When did you-?" Ryuuichi grunted a little, loosening his grip to let Yuuichi fully turn to him. He was damn sleepy.

"Almost half an hour ago. I went to shower first" That explained his wet hair. Normally Yuuichi would scold his brother for not drying his hair before going to bed, but he let it slide this time. Instead, he hugged Ryuuichi tightly. So tight that he almost cut off his brother's breathing.

Ryuuichi frowned a bit at the soreness he had, but blinked when he felt Yuuichi's body trembling slightly. He raked his fingers into Yuuichi's hair, patting his back gently in a rhythmical tempo. A habit of his to get Yuuichi sleeping. He softly hummed, gently massaging Yuuichi's scalp.

"What's wrong?"

Yuuichi tensed for a brief moment before relaxing into Ryuuichi's hold. "I.. I kept waiting for you to come back, and the more I waited, the more I think that you wouldn't come back.."

Ryuuichi smiled and tighten his hold. He felt Yuuichi's hands on top of his chest, right on top of his beating heart. "I promised I will come back, and now I'm back" He buried his face at the crook of his brother's neck. "I'm back, Yuuichi. I'm back"

He said nothing when Yuuichi fisted his hands, crumpling his shirt. He did not said anything when he felt hot tears soaking his shirt. He simply said in silence, comforting his brother as his mind wondered to their parents. 'I wonder when will they tell Yuuichi...'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST CHAPTER FOR THIS ARC! ..... I'm so done with the Shimon Arc- NO OFFENSE. Chapter- second half of 328 to 346.
> 
> I'm already having great trouble writing Inheritance Ceremony/ Shimon Arc, I wonder what kind of suffering I would have to go through with The Curse of Rainbow Arc.... *groan*
> 
> This is seriously the nth time I wrote something similar with Yuuichi... I think.
> 
> Next chapter would be something like a small continuation from this arc, something like a conclusion. It's more off a random bit from here and there.... Or probably not really. As usual, it will be Ryuuichi-centric. I think too Ryuuichi-centric but meh.
> 
> Fun Fact= Yuuichi is overthinking because his brother usually never disappear without explaining why. Until recently, that is.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	52. Timeline

\--------------------- **Eight** **Years Ago** \----------------------

A young Yuuichi tugged at a equally young Ryuuichi's sleeves, hiding behind his brother. "Onii-chan..." Ryuuichi grasped his hands behind his back, giving it a reassuring squeeze, his eyes never leaving the road. He looked from right to left, where tall people walking pass them, paying no heed to two six-years-old. He tried to look past through the moving legs and bodies, only to frown when he see nothing. He sighed in annoyance. He seriously hate being this short.

He properly grabbed Yuuichi's hand and carefully and hastily make pass through the sea of people to one corner. Finally, out of the suffocating crowd, he breathed out in relief. He turned to Yuuichi to make sure he was alright to see his brother frighten and tearing up.

He squeeze his hands again, patting him on the head gently. "Yuu, it's alright"

Yuuichi back his tears, nodding slowly. "B-but what about sensei and the others?" Speaking of them, Ryuuichi almost sighed for the nth time that day if he didn't knew better. He frowned and looked around again. There was no way they could spot their teachers and classmates in this kind of crowd. Who suggested to have the annual year-end trip to Tokyo of  _all_  places again?

He should have stick him and Yuuichi to their teacher, but now that he thought about it, it was better for them to be lost rather than the others. At least he knew what to do rather than throwing a tantrum in this kind of crowd. Not to mention it was easier for them to get kidnapped or something along the line.

He shook his head, cutting himself of his train of rambles rather than thoughts. That was no important at this moment.

"Let's go to find a policeman, or the station. We will have them call sensei, alright?" He smiled when Yuuichi nodded. "In the meantime, let's enjoy the walk there~ And don't let go of my hand?"

And off they go. Ryuuichi led the way, a hand on the city map he had gotten from the station. Fortunately he did, or he might be in trouble. They carefully stuck to the edge of the crowd until they reach a park. If he remembered correctly, their teacher did mentioned about going to visit the park, but who knows which park was it. At least they weren't in a crowd anymore.

It was the beginning of spring, so the cheery blossoms haven't bloom yet, but it was still a magnificent sight. Ryuuichi was in awe as he never saw this kind of park before. Namimori's park couldn't even go against this one.

"O-onii-chan... I'm tired.." Ryuuichi blinked out of his trance. True to what Yuuichi said, his brother was really exhausted seeing that he was panting lightly. Ryuuichi himself was feeling tired as well. He pulled Yuuichi to one of the bench and sat down with a huff. He took out their water bottles from his backpack and passed Yuuichi's to him. As he drank, he wondered if their teacher noticed their disappearance. Heck it wasn't even their fault that they got lost in the first place. Damn that traffic.

He looked to Yuuichi, only to find him asleep, oblivious to the world. He sighed fondly, slowly and gently pried the bottle off Yuuichi's hand. He moved a stray hair from Yuuichi's face. He was glad that he never let go of his brother's hand, or they might be swept off by the crowd separately. Guess the current of humans wore him out. It wore Ryuuichi out too. Very much so. He never really liked crowded place, so it annoyed him immensely. Yuuichi, who was never in a crowd this huge other than the time he was swarmed by parents during a play for being a 'cute dog', was very much terrified.

Even Ryuuichi could feel it through his hands. (It hurt a lot. He almost thought he would lose his hand)

He looked at his watch again and decided that it wouldn't hurt resting for a moment. He smiled again, leaned back against the back rest and watched the clouds roll by.

Mundane as it is, he never thought that he would admit that he was content with that moment.

(When they were reunited with their teachers and classmates again, however, he resisted the urge to sass at them when they scold them for  _getting lost_. Damn you)

\--------------------- **Three Years Ago** \---------------------

An eleven-years-old Yuuichi was walking down the hallway with a stack of books, pouting. He silently cursed the teacher for separating him and Ryuuichi. Said teacher wanted to talk about 'scouting' or 'exchange' or whatsoever and asked him to send these books to the office as a cover up that the teacher wanted to talk with Ryuuichi in private, and mind you, it was quite a lot. Oh why wouldn't it be a lot and heavy. There was like thirty-five books with hundreds of pages. Why wouldn't it be heavy. (Fortunately, he's an athlete. Screw that teacher) And he really wanted to stay with his brother, for both comfort and retaliation because man, was Ryuuichi's frown hard.

Yuuichi couldn't understand why when he tried to stay, Ryuuichi told him to do as teacher said, alone. Usually, despite whoever it was, Ryuuichi would help as an excuse to escape. But if he didn't, it meant that the situation was pretty serious. He had never seen his brother scowl so openly at a teacher before. Let alone the narrowed eyes. (He wouldn't be surprise if the teacher actually pissed in his trousers as his brother normally held an impassive poker face at them)

He sighed, shifting his hold slightly. He better hurry up and put these down before he literally drop them for being too heavy. He fasten his pace and when he reached the office, he literally used his legs to open the damn sliding door, unintentionally slamming it. The teachers in the office actually jumped on their spots and glared at him, but it melted off when he grinned apologetically. They simply just turned back to their business without batting an eyelash at him. Ah, the perks of being famous and teacher's favourite. Not that he wanted to brag.

He silently trotted to the teacher's table and placed the books down with a huff. He rolled his shoulder and glared at the books. He was definitely going to get sore muscles for carrying this much heavy books. (Hey, he was still building up his muscles and stamina so shut up)

He quickly sauntered out the office to avoid any conversations with any teachers, but failed to do so. "Shiroki-kun" He froze for a moment before turning to the teacher, his homeroom teacher, to be exact. "Yes, sensei?"

"Have your Science teacher talked to your brother about the international exchange program?" His eyes widen in realization after a beat. His Science teacher, the same teacher that sent him to carry those damn books to the office, was frigging talking to his brother about exchange programs. No wonder his brother was scowling. 'NO!' Instead of answering, he immediately ran off. "S-Shiroki-kun?!"

He didn't even hear the call as he ran back to their classroom. He was not going to let his brother go off to some unknown country hundred thousands miles from here. He was not going to let them be separated. Accuse him for being possessive and clingy and dependent for all they want, he wasn't going to let go of Ryuuichi. Not now.

"For the  _last_  time, sensei. no thank you. I've  _no_  intention of leaving Namimori nor Japan itself at the moment. Please stop trying to persuade me" His hands paused short on the door handle, moments away from sliding the door open. He heard his brother's hard, harsh voice, dripping in annoyance and Yuuichi could  _see_  him glaring at the teacher, which was pretty an amazing feat.

"But Shiro-kun! This program will be able to help you with your future! Yes, you're a successful student without a doubt, but there are a lot of others like you out there! You won't be able to win against them if you stay here. If it's your brother you're worrying about, then-"

"Sensei." He shuddered at Ryuuichi's voice as his brother cut the teacher's sentence. "Pardon my language, but I give no damn of whether if it will help my future or whatever. I definitely give no damn of competing with anyone. Let them win for all I care because no, I don't care, sensei.

"And don't bring my brother into this. He has nothing to do with this. Call me stupid and clingy, but I'm definitely not joining. I still have a long way to go, same to the rest of the students of this school. Stop trying to force us to goddamn choose a path because for all I know, this system is stupid."

The door slid open, but Ryuuichi wasn't the least faze upon seeing a frozen Yuuichi by the doorway as he glared at the teacher one last time. " _My_  future is what  _I_  craft. Do  _not_  attempt to make it for me" He closed the door and pulled the Yuuichi away, their bags in hand, ignoring the teacher's protests.

"Let's go. We're skipping the rest of the classes." Now that was rebellious. No! Wait!

Yuuichi pulled at Ryuuichi's hand, stopping both of their tracks. "Yuuichi?"

"You... Was it really me who stopped you from going..?"

Ryuuichi's eyes widen. He groaned and held onto Yuuichi's shoulder, looking at him directly in the eyes to prove that he wasn't lying. "No, it wasn't you. Yes, partly, but no. I stayed because I see no point in going else where for the sake of those people. I wanted to stay here, and here is where I'll be until the time comes. Damn anyone who try to part me away from this land. I will claw their eyes out and pull their intestines off if they try and kiss this land in victory"

Okay that sounded a bit brutal, but it had Yuuichi smiling in relief, glad that he wasn't the burden. Although, it was stupid for him to ask since it was exactly his intention to chain Ryuuichi down to him, rather than this land.

But he'll take that.

(Years later, he laughed at how a moron he was because no matter how far they were, no matter how many thousands or millions of miles apart, they'll always be chained together)

\--------------------------- **Present** \----------------------------

"Ryuu! Catch!" He managed to catch the flying camera before he ran out, saluting at Yuuichi and Yamamoto. Their sacrifice will be remembered forever. He dipped his head at their cries, but didn't stop. Instead he fasten his pace and ran passes houses after houses, turning every corner he saw.

He couldn't stop. Not when a demon was hots on his tail. A Hibari Kyouya oozing with murderous aura, to be exact. But rather than being scared and scarred for his life, he laughed. He laughed in glee as he swerved through a sharp corner, not even noticing the crept out look from the onlookers. He hadn't had this much fun in ages. He hadn't feel this free and weightless for so long.

The adrenaline coursing through him was so addictive, and the rush of wind against his whole body was amazing. Never mind the fact that he might die, this was too much of a moment to be afraid! (Though, many would disagree with him. Greatly so)

As he ran through down the road beside the river, he enjoyed the fast passing scenery more than he had expected he would. He ignored the fact that his muscles and legs and lungs were screaming at him to stop after sprinting around half the town non-stop along with the laughing, and kept on pushing, kept on running. He somehow felt that if he did, everything around him would stop moving. That if he did,  _he_  himself will stop moving.

Until Hibari uncharacteristically tackled him down from the back. He yelped and rolled, somehow managed to roll the both of them down the small hill. They stopped rolling just at the edge of the river bank, with him pinned down but he couldn't help but laughed. He squealed as Hibari reached to grab the camera, mad giggling as he pulled it away from the prefect's grasp.

"Small animal" Oh there's the murderous tone. Ryuuichi only laughed harder.

"No!" Hibari managed to pluck the camera off Ryuuichi's hands and pulled back just far enough for the younger unable to reach it, straddling him at the same time. He plucked out the memory card and crushed it. "Aww.." Ryuuichi pouted, but he went back to giggling.

The prefect raised an eyebrow at the teen's strange behavior, but shrugged it off as he dropped the camera on his chest. Just as he was about to stand up and walk away, Ryuuichi pulled him down next to him.

"You-!" Alas, his voice was drowned in the continuous laughter. Hibari twitched and bonk Ryuuichi's head. "Stop laughing." Ryuuichi let out a whine, but settled down, still grinning though. Hibari tried to shake the hand away from his wrist, but he sighed. Looks like Ryuuichi was stubborn and insisting for him to stay. And stay he did.

Ryuuichi was silently grateful that Hibari did stay. If he didn't, he didn't know how to cope with the oncoming emotion rush that slammed into him out of nowhere. He reflected on everything. From the beginning to now. From the moment he was born, til this peaceful moment. He reflected on the Shimon incident, especially. The truth from his parents wasn't exactly unexpected, but it still surprised him. The part with Dino, however, did splendidly. It dawned him that he would have to tell the truth to the others soon as well.

He reflected on the moment when both Daemon and Elena smiled lovingly and longingly for each other. Their love was so deep that perhaps fate made a mistake of tearing them apart. He reflected the short and brief moment Tsuna and the others, who he was so grateful of, staying by his side and trusting him, hell even comforted him silently when he was mulling of the truth in slight exasperation.

Lastly he reflected on Yuuichi. Just Yuuichi in general. His baby brother, from the moment he laid his eyes on him to the moment his brother mother-henned him for going off without saying anything. His brother who he protected fiercely and was protected by in return with the same ferocity. He honestly couldn't ask for anything more than his brother. It pained him immensely when he cried, and he was the major reason.

His precious, baby brother. 'No matter where, I'll not let you go, Yuuichi. Mentally'

(After he finished losing himself in his train of thoughts, he was forced to spar with Hibari, but he was happy to obliged this time. Hibari, on the other hand, was actually trying to get him grab a grip of himself, by beating him up. His train of thoughts were too annoying)

(When he knew Hibari was nowhere out of his sight after their spar, he grinned triumphantly and pulled out his phone and texted Yuuichi. 'Success'. In his pocket, a SD memory card securely sat in a zip lock bag)

\---------------------- **Ten Years Later** \---------------------

A twenty-four-years-old Ryuuichi looked out of the large window, a hand on it while the other in his pocket. He was smiling, chuckling lightly at the memories. "What are you laughing at?" A pair of arms circled his waist and a chin was placed on his shoulder.

He chuckled again.

"Nothing much" Dino pouted at that. "Lies" Ryuuichi rolled his eyes at that. "So what is it?"

"Ah. Your parents and Yuuichi arrived. Kyouya's going to create homicide because of the increasing crowd so let's- Ouch!" A metal tonfa fell onto Ryuuichi's hand as he blinked on how the weapon managed to curve in it's way into his hand after hitting Dino at the back of the blonde's head. He, fortunately, escaped the cause of the concussion Dino normally gains.

"That hurts, Kyouya!" The said man ignored the whine and sauntered towards them. His eyes narrowed at the arms on Ryuuichi's waist and when he was near enough, he plucked the younger off Dino's grasp, much to the blonde's chagrin and Ryuuichi's amusement.

"You guys are taking too long"

Ryuuichi grinned. "Really, now~" Hibari twitched at that nonchalant attitude of his and the prefect swore that this man in front of him had mood swings faster than one could say Namimori because Ryuuichi just changed from cheerful to annoyed in just split second. Ryuuichi literally threw Hibari's tonfa out the open door, almost hitting a certain hitman.

Reborn, now in his adult form walked in with a smug smirk, fedora tipped down, a hand holding Hibari's tonfa. "What?"

"Your brother is tearing everything and everyone down in search for you. Your parents aren't doing any better" If anything, he shouldn't even look so damn amused of the situation, Tsuna would say. The Shiroki other than Ryuuichi are damn scary when they have too.

Ryuuichi sighed and nodded. "I'll go down now. Let's go" He stopped and glared at Reborn. "I'm still sour on that incident, Reborn" Reborn's smirk widen in glee.

"But you looked beautiful, Ryuu-chan~" Ryuuichi snarled at that, cheeks flushed in embarrassment of the memories. He then had an idea.

He grinned mischievously inside and walked up to Reborn. When everyone in the room thought that he was going to punch the hitman, he surprised them by giving Reborn a kiss on the cheek. Hell even Reborn was frozen in surprise. He laughed and walked out, but not without winking at them.

"Two can play a game, Re~Born~" Oh it's on.

(Hibari and Dino raged on the hitman, more so from the former but Reborn bat them off without a care. Evil ideas running through his heads. If war is what Ryuuichi wants, then war will he gets.)

(Later, when they recalled back at all the nonsensical stuff they went through, they almost laughed their asses off. Hibari wasn't the least amused, however, being the one that had to stand through Ryuuichi's insufferable moments. Let's just say Ryuuichi was punished. With a strangely shaped cylinder mark on his back and his forehead red like pomegranates because apples are too commonly used, quoted from Reborn.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've absolutely no idea what I was doing with this chapter. Absolutely. No. Idea. At. All.
> 
> For the first part, they were following their teachers and classmate as they moved from one of the tourist spot to another, they were literally swept away by humans. Those humans were fortunate enough that Ryuuichi regarded Yuuichi's well being more important than them at that moment.
> 
> For the second, Well, kind of obvious. All I wanted to say was, mannnnn, Ryuuichi and Yuuichi are so whipped by each other. One would meet their end for separating them.
> 
> The third part was, well, Reborn had the mischievous idea to take pictures of Hibari's embarrassing moment, to which Tsuna rejected but the others agreed to join, so he was, sadly, dragged in as well. Ryuuichi and Yuuichi joined because, that is something they will never ever miss it for the world.
> 
> The last was set in the a parallel world similar to the future they went to, except that Yuni still lives and Byakuran is constantly under control for what they suspected ADHD or hyperactive-ness, whichever fits the bill. This parallel world is not the direct one the present guys will get, so yeah. PARALLEL.
> 
> TYL Ryuuichi told them the truth after the present one went back to the past though. It was needless to say that Dino and Hibari got along and closer to Ryuuichi for the past ten years, to which they could practically notice each other's presence despite the effort on hiding it, without even batting an eyelash. Surprisingly (or not), Ryuuichi and Reborn hit off well after he revealed the truth and man, the others didn't even know what hit them when those two started pranking each other and messing with the others as well.
> 
> (They swore to whichever deity up there that Ryuuichi gets more sadistic as he goes)
> 
> Fun Fact= Yep, I had Reborn in his adult form, about twenty-nine years old because I've a headcanon of Reborn starting off in the mafia at the age of 15 and turned into an Arcobaleno at 29, time stopped, even his age stopped running, so after the curse was broken courtesy of Ryuuichi and Tsuna in the said parallel world, the Arcobaleno grew back to their age in matters of three months. And damn, was those three months hard for the rest.
> 
> I'll leave whatever Ryuuichi hadn't forgiven Reborn for to your imaginations *smirks*
> 
> I... I think I went overboard with this one. I wanted to write about Hibari more but, ugh. Damn brain.
> 
> I just realize I used damn a lot in this chapter. Damn. 
> 
> Before I forgotten, Ryuuichi had pranked Enma as a small, playful revenge. By wanting to tie him up with Hibari of all people.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	53. Kawahira

Ryuuichi stared as a black portal opened up beside him as he walked back from school. At first he thought that it was Vindice, but the portal doesn't have the same chill as Vindice's portal. He shifted his backpack and stepped into the portal. The portal, once Ryuuichi was all in, disappeared.

Ryuuichi blinked at the darkness, eyes adjusting to it. He looked around. Surely, he was in a void, again. He really doesn't know what was with voids and him. He was sure that the amount of times he had been in one was a bit unhealthy.

"Welcome, Shiroki-kun" He turned around, to see Kawahira sitting on a chair, sipping on what he presumed, a cup of tea. A white table with a tray of biscuits and another cup of tea was set at the opposite, in front of an empty chair. "Please, have a seat"

Ryuuichi did as told, placing his backpack down on the floor as he leaned back, neither looking nor touching anything on the table. He stared forward, at the bespectacled man. He, for some reason, wasn't a tad bit wary. He was simply curious, and he was observing. He didn't meet Kawahira in the future era, so this would be considered as his first time meeting him.

Kawahira knew that Ryuuichi was watching his every move, observing with a great sense of curiosity. He didn't mind it and gestured the younger to the treats and tea he had prepared earlier. A small, calculating smile on his face. "Do try them and feel free to give a comment"

Ryuuichi finally looked at the biscuits and tea. 'So he made them..' He would be lying if he says that he wasn't surprised that Kawahira baked those biscuits, for the man looked like he wouldn't have the time to bake. Then again, it wasn't like Ryuuichi knew what he usually do anyway. "If you insist, thank you" He picked up one, a brown one, and took a bite.

"It's delicious" It really was.

Kawahira's smile widen. "I'm glad" The smile dropped as Kawahira took his turn to observe Ryuuichi, an adult in a teen's body. It intrigued him, as he wasn't that knowledgeable on that term and field, reincarnation and souls anyway. That was one of the special species as he was, the one with cloud flame's forte. He never really understood that one, as whatever said would comes out a riddle or a mystery, something that he would never see nor understand. (Though, Sepira had once said that that one never spoke in riddles and personally, he believed knew that as well)

His stare burned, as though boring holes into Ryuuichi, but the younger didn't mind. Ryuuichi just simply continue eating the biscuit until he stopped. He took a sip of the slightly sweet tea before placing it down.

"How interesting" He raised an eyebrow at the man.

"What is?" Kawahira chuckled with great amusement. "You don't seemed to be wary of me"

"Why should I?" Okay, now he's surprised. That was one of the answers he normally don't get. Even I-Pin was wary of him for the first time. Although he doesn't know of what Ryuuichi does of the results they would be getting out of what he had planned, Kawahira had half expected the younger to hate him for what he had done, and will still be doing until he passes.

"You should be aware that you're one of those in my list, no?" He noted that Ryuuichi's eyes flashed slightly. He knew well that he shouldn't be targeting the Historian, but to continue this for the sake of this miserable, pitiful world, he need to. Ryuuichi makes a powerful Cloud after all, or Sun as the matter of fact.

"Am I now. But even so, why should I be wary of  _you_?" Ryuuichi put down the cup and looked directly into dark purple eyes. "The one I'm speaking to now is Kawahira-san, not Checkerface," He tilted his head. "Or am I not?"

Kawahira's eyes widen. His lips tugged up. "No, you're indeed talking to  _me_ " Ryuuichi replied with a smile of his own.

"Do pray tell though, what is the purpose of this," He struggled to find a suitable word. "Summoning..?" That sounded a bit as though the man had called upon a demon. Or something. He should stop, or his mind might wonder to another random thing.

"Right, of course. I need a favor from you, Shiroki-kun" He stayed silent as Kawahira continued. "At first I wanted to ask you of what you knew, but that will never happen. Could you please take over my place if I were to pass?"

Ryuuichi, for the first time since their conversation started, was speechless. From shock to confusion, to realization and lastly to anger. "No." He growled. "Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against you, or anything you are suspecting of, but you'll not die. Maybe it's selfish of me to say this, but I'll not let you die."

"My existence won't bring any happiness but sorrow and anguish. What will it do good to you?" He shook his head.

"I don't know about that, and I don't know what it will bring me. But the fact you no on the face of this world dreads me. I never talked to you before, heck I never even met you before until now, but that still doesn't mean I'll let you die" He finds it hard to explain. He personally felt that Kawahira was one of the pillars that holds this world upright. It seemed as though the world would  _collapse_  if Kawahira were to, cease from existence. Perhaps because Kawahira was the last of the special species on Earth, but every inch of his body just couldn't take it well.

(If he didn't knew better, he might just as well suspect that Kawahira did something that made him feel like this)

" _Everything has an anchor, and every anchor has a chain_. You're as though the anchor to the boat, Kawahira-san. If you were gone, the boat would drift off and probably sink or something. And the Tri-Ni-Sette bearers are the chain that holds you. You understand that, no?"

Kawahira hummed. He knew that very well. The Tri-Ni-Sette was made for the sake of the world's balance, after all. The Arcobaleno are his job, his to find, his to toy, and his to finish. He have half the mind to just let this corrupted world rot without the Arcobaleno, without him, but something held him from doing it. Sepira, probably. He wasn't going to deny that he enjoy toying with the Arcobaleno, of every generation, but he does get sick of it sometimes. He knew, this small sacrifice, the sacrifice of those chosen as the Arcobaleno, was obligatory, to prevent a larger chaos.

It didn't, however, stop him from hating himself for ruining their lives.

"Everyone  _dies_  in the end, Ryuuichi-kun" The said teen paid no heed to the sudden change and stood firm on his point. "I  _know_. But it's not  _your_  time to go yet"

The older smiled at that, genuinely amused at how logic seems to wrap around Ryuuichi like a second skin, how he sounded so reassuring. 'His charm, perhaps' "And if this is what you've called me here for, I'm going to punch you, Kawahira-san" The smile that was given to him shouldn't scream I-Know-What-You're-Thinking, but it did.

\-----------------------------------------------------

"Ryuuichi" Ryuuichi choked on the rice ball and all but flailed his hands around for his water bottle. When he managed to grab it, he practically ripped the cap open and gulped down the water in haste. He coughed and glared at an amused Reborn with resign. " _D_ _on't_  do that anymore" Sadly, he knew very well that he will be scared like this again. He seriously don't get what was so fun about scaring him by popping out of nowhere.

He blame that on Giotto and his merry sets of friends.

"Come over after school." He blinked at that once. Yuuichi has training as usual, and something about the devil coach of theirs planned to drive them to the seventh hell or whatever, he wasn't exactly listening. It probably would be fine. Besides, he kind of knew what Reborn wanted to talk about, but it would be better for him to confirm it. And he wanted to mess with Dino a bit. (He found it quite amusing)

He shrugged. "Sure" Reborn grinned almost too creepily to the point Ryuuichi wanted to shake the hitman.

\------------------------------------------------------

"To dispel my curse, I want you guys to fight in my place" Tsuna honestly couldn't believe whatever he had heard from Reborn. It was illogical to an extend, but his life was never logical when it comes to Reborn. But the man Reborn had said, the Man with the Iron Hat, he sounded like a conman, but Tsuna doesn't know, for he had never met him before.

Secondly, he couldn't understand why was Ryuuichi called in as well. He understand that he and Dino was asked as they are Reborn's students, but Ryuuichi, of all people, wasn't. For all he knew, Reborn wanted to unravel Ryuuichi's secret while Ryuuichi was simply amusing Reborn, or at least that's was what he saw from their interaction.

He watched Ryuuichi, who sat on the floor in front of Dino with an indifferent face through the corner of his eyes. "No, I got that part, but.." He turned back to Reborn when Dino spoke up.

"What will it be?" Of course, Tsuna already knew what their answers would be. Reborn had helped them, guided them past the dark moments and taught them. Helping him is something that they definitely will do. Not because they owe him, but because they care about Reborn as how the hitman had cared for them. At least, that's what Tsuna felt.

Dino was the same as Tsuna, no doubt. He will definitely do it. But for Ryuuichi to do this, it was unsettling enough. This representative thing would be very dangerous. He knew that Ryuuichi understood that as well.

"Well, that's weird. A request from you. I'll help you"

"If Dino-san's my ally, I'm not scared either. It's fine for me" Reborn nodded at that, and he along with his two students turned to the silent teen, waiting for his answer.

Ryuuichi scrunched his nose at the possibility of fighting Vindice if he were to join Reborn. And if the Vindice decided to attack him right in front of Yuuichi, he might as well slaughter them for Tsuna instead. He wasn't worried of the beginning of this fight, but hell Vindice. God _damn_  Vindice.

That aside, he does wanted to help. Really. He didn't know how would he be able to help, but he would just have to see, wouldn't he?

"I'm in. Though, I won't guarantee that I'll be doing anything" He looked directly into Reborn pitch black eyes, seeing a glint in it. Nonetheless, the hitman was satisfied.

"I see. Thank you" Reborn was visibly very delighted of their answers, but honestly, that smile on his face just doesn't feel right. "That's good, that's good. Three representatives get. Good. I'm gonna have dinner"

Ryuuichi outright shook his head in exasperation as Tsuna and Dino asked (demanded) Reborn to explain the most important point. He personally felt that Reborn's answer wasn't exactly it, then again, he was right. The Arcobaleno, after cursed, all had their appearance changed. That was one, and the other one...

Well, he just have to remember to take picture of the Arcobaleno in their adult form.

He bit his lips and leaned back, onto Dino's leg. He ignored the jolt from the blonde man and sighed. He mentally listed the other Arcobaleno's representatives and frowned. When he thought that he would be worried about Hibari, since he was the only one, he found himself more worried of the Shimon, Skull especially. And then there's Kawahira.

"Ryuuichi..?" He peered up to see the blonde looking at him with concern, mildly aware that Tsuna was too. He shook his head, looking away and huffed. "Nothing." He yelped when a hand ruffled his hair, immediately tried to swept it away.

"Don't be too stubborn. If there's something wrong, tell us, alright?" He pouted at that but relaxed. For some reason, Dino's tone had his nerves settled slightly. 'The Sky's perks, huh' He tilted his head to Tsuna, who was staring at them. He, without thinking much, reached out to the brunette's hand and tugged him down.

"Uwaa!"

Dino stifled a laugh when Ryuuichi settled Tsuna on his lap, squeezing the daylight out of the brunette. Tsuna squeaked when Ryuuichi grunt vibrated from his shoulder. It lasted not more than a minute before Ryuuichi's grip loosen, letting go of Tsuna with a quirk smile.

"Do what you deem best,  _Banchou~_ "

"I'm not a Banchou, Ryuuichi!!"

\-----------------------------------------------------

Sakura silently and carefully walked to her sons' room. She peeked into Yuuichi's first, smiling softly upon seeing her youngest son sleeping soundly without a care of the world, her innocent son. She slowly closed the door with a soft, audible click. She then toed to Ryuuichi's room, only to see light from the bottom of the door. Frowning, she knocked.

When there was no reply and Ryuuichi didn't open the door for almost a minute, she twisted open the door. She was surprised when she saw Ryuuichi, with his headphone on, writing something on his notebook. She shook her head when he didn't notice her.

"Ryuu-kun" She walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Ryuuichi jumped in surprise, almost yelping in surprise and whipped his head to his mother, raising a brow at her. "Mother?" He took off his headphone and fully turned to her. "Is there anything you need?"

Sakura huffed, placing a hand on her hip. "What time do you think it is now, young man?" He winced at her chiding voice. "Err.." He sheepishly scratched his cheek. "Eleven..?"

"One" Ryuuichi blinked, looking at the digital clock. It was really one in the morning, and he didn't realize. He nervously laughed. "Opps..?"

She sighed in exasperation. She pointedly peered at the notebook. "What are you doing?" Her son looked at his notebook as well and made a noise. "Oh.. Umm.. Notes...?" He slowly said. It was partially true anyway, expect that it wasn't school notes. It was notes on the representative battle. He was just trying to refresh his memories. It was already very surprising that he managed to remember that much for almost 14 years.

He sweated under her hawk-like gaze that was boring holes on him. He purposely not looking at her for the fear she notice something. He all but jerked when she sighed again. "Be careful at whatever you're planning to do, Ryuu-kun" He finally looked at her, eyes wide.

"What-"

"Oh I know there's something going on. Boss was too suspicious" Her tone of resignation made him frowned. She was worry, wasn't she? After knowing that he was involved in the mafia. When she and his father returned a week before Dino arrived, he had somehow suspected that they knew that he would be involved in whatever Dino was involved in along with the Vongola Decimo.

He bit into his inner cheeks and breathed out, not realizing he was holding his breathe. "Yeah.. I'll be careful" He gave her a loop-sided smile. She returned a small smile of her own, before she engulfed him into an embrace. "Remember that we're all by your side, alright?"

Ryuuichi stiffly nodded, wrapping his arms around her as well. He felt slightly awkward, but he melted into her arms easily, feeling absolutely happy and warm. "I always will"

Outside his room, Kei leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His head rested against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. He had followed Sakura to look at their sons, but he didn't went into Ryuuichi's room. Sakura needed this, heck even Ryuuichi needed this moment. Ever since that incident, ever since they had came back, Ryuuichi was awkward around them, looking as though he had something to say but didn't know how.

His wife, on the other hand, was constantly worried because the fact that Ryuuichi knew of the mafia, and actually is a part of it puts Ryuuichi in a dangerous position. The deeper one was involved in the dark world, the easier it would be to be targeted and  _killed_. She was worried about Yuuichi as well, but since their youngest son still knows nothing of it, he's safe from the chain of Omerta and the risk of being targeted was lower.

Still, nonetheless, she couldn't stop worrying about them. Kei himself was worried as well. Why wouldn't he? Ryuuichi and Yuuichi are his son, his pride and joy. They're his, theirs' precious.

Now that Kei thought about it, they had never stop worrying about their son, had they? They've been worrying about them ever since their just babies and will continue on worrying until they're gone. He chuckled when a memory of Ryuuichi and Yuuichi, both still toddlers, running around him as they played pretend.

A slightly sad smile tugged on his lips, but there was happiness in his eyes. They grew up so fast, became independent so quickly, slowly becoming men of their own. They rarely depended on them anymore. (Like they depended on them that much anyway) And Kei somehow wished that they will.

He noticed that his older son shoulders and worries of a lot, even more after that incident by the way his son's stiff frame that can't seem to relax. Yuuichi as well, but it was concern towards Ryuuichi. But no matter how, he noticed as well that they would never tell them. If he was any other parents, he would think that they're in the 'teenage' phase of keeping secrets and all, but he wasn't.

True, Ryuuichi kept a lot of secrets from them, Yuuichi as well, but he, and Sakura, knew very well that they didn't tell them to avoid making them worry even more since they knew that they were busy. (Though, the twins body language and way of speech would be a huge giveaway, most of the time)

He heaved an inaudible sigh, praying to whatever deity up there to watch over his sons, for their safety. His hands clenched into fists. He looked towards Sakura, who closed the door and returned her a somber smile when she gave him hers. He reached out and pulled her into a sideway hug, kissing her on the forehead before they both walked to their room.

Apparently, Sakura had the same thoughts as his.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter of the Curse of Rainbow Arc!! Urrhh.. I skipped quite a lot of things... This would be chapter 347-356. Next chapter starts off from 357.
> 
> I noticed that I tend to write about those once-antagonist... Not so antagonist-like. For at least once... I've no freaking idea why I did that, but I did.
> 
> On Kawahira, it was mentioned that Ryuuichi would be a powerful cloud or sun, was because the Sky was Tsuna. Even though Ryuuichi's main attribute was Sky, his offensive and power mostly lies on Cloud.
> 
> Banchou meant Gang Leader, as of how Tsuna would be the boss of their team. Ryuuichi found it amusing. [Note= I looked it up again, and it actually meant someone of governmental position or the leader of a group of delinquents.]
> 
> Note, Ryuuichi was always an awkward child, but he became more awkward after knowing the truth from Sakura and Kei.
> 
> Fun Fact= Yuuichi wasn't exactly sleeping.
> 
> Sakura and Kei didn't exactly have a lot of appearance, so yeah.
> 
> I'm getting shittier at this...
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	54. Welcome Back, Yuni

"Yuuichi! Could you get the door?! I'm a bit-" Yuuichi yawned and stood up from the sofa he had perched himself on after waking up, staring into space as he was still half awake. "Alright alright.." He winced when a loud clatter resonated from the backyard and he shook his head at his parents laughter that followed closely. "Coming!" He hurried to the door, fixing his appearance slightly.

He opened the door and blinked when a girl probably of his age in a sundress smiling brightly at him. "Yes?" He was almost blinded by the smile that stretched wider at some point. He wondered if it was possible for someone to smile this brightly but quickly dismissed it in order to comprehend her sentence.

"Good morning. I'm Yuni. Is Ryuuichi-kun home?" He raised an eyebrow at the foreign name and his brother's name but nodded. "Please come in" He stepped aside to let her in, closing the door afterwards. The girl, Yuni, muttered a thanks and apologies for intruding as he took out a pair of extra indoor shoes they had, placing it in front of her.

She smiled gratefully and wore it, following him as he led the way to the backyard where Ryuuichi and their parents were.

"Ryuu" He called out.

The said teen with a black smudge on his cheeks and hands on the pots turned to him, blinking. His eyes widen the girl behind Yuuichi as both Sakura and Kei turned to her as well, wondering who she was and that she looked so familiar. Ryuuichi immediately put down the pots and practically tore the gardening gloves off and rushed in, passing Yuuichi and engulfed her into a tight hug.

He ignored his brother and parents' surprise, smiling with a heavy sense of relief. "God- Yuni." He pulled away to look at her properly, before hugging her again. "Welcome back" His words dripped out easily, too easily to his family's shock.

Yuni smiled just the same as he did, returning the embrace. "I never left, Ryuuichi-kun" Ryuuichi laughed at that, finally letting go. They stared at each other, gleeful in a sense. A cough from Yuuichi broke their stare as they both turned to him.

"Care to explain, Ryuu?" He sweated at the frown Yuuichi had but he couldn't stop grinning. "Ah, right. You were in training camp that time" He placed his hands on Yuni's shoulder. "This is Yuni, a transfer student from our class for a week"

Yuni bowed. "Please to meet you. I'm Yuni" At her smile once again, Sakura and Kei's eyes widen. They both exchanged bewildered look and a single thought ran through their mind. 'Why is the daughter of Giglio Nero Familgia's boss here?!' Yuuichi, unaware of their faces, bowed as well, curtly. "Likewise"

Ryuuichi was honestly, really happy, and the others could practically see it. He then remembered something about Byakuran and blinked. "Umm... Can I go out for a moment? I'm taking Yuni sightseeing around Namimori" It wasn't exactly a lie, Yuni really doesn't know much of Namimori. He could be her guide while they walk to Tsuna's house.

His brother stared into his eyes for a while, before reluctantly shrugging. Their parents nodded slowly. Ryuuichi noticed that they were wary of Yuni. 'Do they knew about Yuni..?' He frowned but said nothing of it.

\------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi and Yuni was really sightseeing, for one. He decided he would go visit Tsuna a little while later, seeing that he already knew what they would talk about. He, after changing out of his already dirty dark blue T-shirt into a grey, long sleeve button-up, cheerily chatted with Yuni, who was excited and happy as well.

"So what were you doing just now?" He blinked and laughed. "I was helping my parents with the plants. They wanted to rearrange them" That, and they had actually wanted to make a small pond but he shot the idea down for their backyard was too small for that. They pouted a little, smudging soil on him as revenge while smiling evilly. He didn't really mind it, but he did return the favor by doing the same.

"I take that you had fun?" He nodded. He did, that's for sure. He then spotted a flower shop and stopped, telling Yuni to stay put as he hurried to the shop. Yuni blinked and tilted her head in curiosity, watching Ryuuichi popping into the shop for a moment and came out the next.

"Here, this is for you" He held out a stalk of flower, a Yellow Rose, to be exact. She was pleasantly surprised, a soft, pink hue formed on her cheeks. She smiled gratefully and took it, thanking him. "Is this as a 'Welcome back' and 'Friendship', or 'Jealousy'?" She teased.

Ryuuichi wasn't even a bit offended of it as he chuckled. "The former two, of course."

Yuni giggled. "Thank you, Ryuuichi-kun" He smiled, patting her head. "Anytime"

They then decided to finally make their way to Tsuna's house, but not after treating Yuni a cup of smoothie. They were walking in silence, the excitement died down slightly until Yuni broke the silence. "Ne, Ryuuichi-kun," He hummed, showing that he was listening. "Have you found the truth?"

She watched Ryuuichi's dark brown eyes glinted slightly, saying nothing as she waited for his answer. "Yeah," He sounded almost thoughtful. "I'll tell you when all this ends, alright?" Yuni was happy for him. She knew that Ryuuichi very much wanted to know the truth. She was glad that he could discover it. She was even more relief to see him less tense than he was when they first met. It was as though the chain that held him down cracked and shattered.

(Little did she knows, that  _did_  happen)

"Ara, Yuni-chan, Ryuuichi-kun." Byakuran sounded not exactly surprise, much to Ryuuichi's mirth. Ryuuichi smirked at him, and went ahead a punch him not so lightly in the shoulder. Byakuran whined in pain. "Ryuuichi-kun, why?" He shrugged. "No particular reason~"

He then continued walking, leaving Byakuran and Yuni with a wave, knowing that they won't follow him. Before he turn the corner to the brunette's house, he looked back and grinned at them. "I'm glad that you're back, the both of you" And he continued on.

Byakuran and Yuni exchanged gaze and a smile tugged on their lips.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sweated slightly, his hands on the cup that was on the table. Opposite of where he sat was Basil and Iemitsu. He at first wanted to straight go upstairs after arriving at Tsuna's house but they somehow dragged him into a conversation. They were talking about their team as Colonello's representatives and such. They knew that he wasn't in their team, but Reborn's, they still forcefully sat him down and talked. Something along the line of Ryuuichi wouldn't say anything to Reborn was said, much to his chagrin, even though that was true.

"E-eh?! Ryuuichi?" He turned to the door and saw Tsuna, who looked as though he was rushing out, looking at him with surprise. "When did you arrive?"

"A few moments ago" A certain hitman, out of nowhere jumped onto the table and in front of Ryuuichi. Reborn smirked and held out a watch, one of the representative watches. "Here" Ryuuichi nodded and took the watch. "Thanks"

Tsuna raised an eyebrow. He wondered why the teen didn't need any explanation from Reborn, and that the hitman didn't call Ryuuichi for their meeting. Though, he knew very well that Ryuuichi was well informed and knew a lot. He wouldn't really be surprise if he knew of this messed up thing. Probably.

He was about to open his mouth and ask for a confirmation when Reborn suddenly send him a flying kick on the face. He yelped in pain and stumbled backwards, a weight landed on his head. "Come on, let's go find Enma" The hard tug of his hair made him wince and he quickly did as though, rushing out of his house.

A moment later, Dino came down as well. (Ryuuichi almost laughed out loud when the blonde stumbled, almost falling down. Almost) His eyes met Ryuuichi's and they engaged into a staring contest. Ryuuichi's eyes were practically screaming at him, pleading him to drag him away from Basil and Iemitsu. He sweated lightly when those two merely blabbered on, changing the topic for a moment when Nana passed by.

"Ryuuichi. I'm going to look for Kyouya. Do you want to join?"

Ryuuichi looked so relief and thankful. Too much, Dino would say. He nodded, standing up and hurried to Dino's side. "Yeah. See you again, Basil, Iemitsu-san"

Once out the door, he let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks" He murmured, not fully looking at the man. He didn't know why but he was feeling slightly awkward when he was very well aware that he shouldn't. Especially in front of him. Dino quirked a soft smile when he noticed that. He had supposed that the teen hadn't exactly sort out the fact that they are cousins even though Ryuuichi thought he had. (Actually, he really had. He was just feeling self-conscious when he realized Dino let all of his guards down in front of Ryuuichi after he knew of their relation. Gosh, Dino.  _Please_.)

Dino reached over and ruffled the dark brown lock, grinning. "Shall we go find Kyouya?" Ryuuichi reached up to push the hand away from his hair, annoyed at that. He looked up to Dino's eyes again and huffed. "Sure"

(He mentally pouted at Dino's height)

\------------------------------------------------------

"Yuu, let's go home.  _Now_ " Ryuuichi ushered his brother out of their classroom, waving at Tsuna and the others. The last thing he needed was to drag Yuuichi into the representative battles. He would be damn if that happened. Yuuichi frowned but let his brother dragged him out. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him. His brother had been acting weirdly since morning where Ryuuichi actually went to his practice, waited by the bench before engaging into a argument with his basketball coach about letting him off from practice a few days. Interestingly (Or not), Ryuuichi won the argument, the coach actually relented and gave in.

It made him wondering why Ryuuichi was so adamant on it.

It didn't help much when he noticed Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Enma being so edgy the whole day through. Well, excluding Gokudera since he literally slept through the whole day. No teacher was brave enough to wake him up for the fear of his anger. Not like Gokudera needed to listen in class anyway.

As he let was pulled to the shoe lockers, he scrutinized Ryuuichi's back. His back looked broad, but it was actually smaller. Yuuichi can confirm that. He gazed to the left hand that was pulling him, noting that the watch Ryuuichi was wearing wasn't the usual watch. He raised an eyebrow when he saw a smaller one alongside with it. 'Why the hell is he wearing two watch?' He didn't verbally question that when Ryuuichi's long hair, tied up into a pony tail, brushed into his vision.

He peered at it, musing that his hair had grew longer. 'It wouldn't be long until Ryuu wants to cut his hair...' He smiled when he remembered the time his brother complained about his hair tangling up, too long and all. Ryuuichi got a hair cut straight after that, by their mother. That was the time his brother had short hair for a while. (Ryuuichi didn't let Sakura cut his hair shorter than shoulder length after that. He wasn't too comfortable without the tug of his hair tie)

Just as they reached the lockers, Ryuuichi turned around slightly to look at him and blinked in surprise when their eyes met. "Yuu?"

Yuuichi wordlessly stared into his eyes. He watched as concern flashed in Ryuuichi's eyes. "Are you alright?" Ryuuichi's other hand was placed on his cheeks, his brows knitted.

The younger shook his head, gripping onto Ryuuichi's hand that was holding his firmly. He tilted his head slightly, leaning onto the hand. "Yep. I'm just peachy"

The corner of Ryuuichi's lips tugged up, a soft, amused chuckle slipped out. "I see" He shifted his backpack and jerked his head slightly to the locker. "Let's go" Yuuichi smiled as well and nodded. "Yeah"

Once out of school ground, they started chatting up nonsense, laughing at random, hilarious stories, their intertwined hands still glued to each other. Halfway down their journey, Ryuuichi's watch, the watch he had never seen before, beeped loudly. He peered over, frowning when Ryuuichi's grip tighten significantly and turned to Ryuuichi's face to see those wide eyes and hearing the murmured curses under the breath.

"One minute remaining until battle commencement" Ryuuichi clicked his tongue and tugged Yuuichi, pacing up to their home. "50 seconds remaining" He scowled.

"Ryuu! What is that?" Yuuichi pulled at the hand, jerking his brother into a stop and Ryuuichi did. They both ignored the voice from the watch as Yuuichi was firm on getting answers. The emotions swirling in Ryuuichi's eyes was making him worry. Ryuuichi was in a dilemma how he should explain.

Ryuuichi ruffled his hair in frustration, looking away, head down.

"It's.. A countdown of sort." He looked at the watch. "We're playing a 'game'."

"Wait- 'We'?" He nodded. "Tsuna and the others," He wasn't exactly lying. It was indeed a game. A wicked, twisted game from Checkerface. He huffed. "I joined, but I wasn't exactly keen on the rules and the process of the game itself, so I decided to isolate myself from them for a few days. And I'm dragging you with me. Sorry"

Yuuichi didn't exactly expect Ryuuichi to answer him, even with an answer that was altered. For all this time, Ryuuichi either asked him to wait or said that it was nothing. He hated when Ryuuichi did that, and his brother knew that very well. If Ryuuichi decided to tell him, then perhaps it would soon be the time Ryuuichi finally tell him everything he had been hiding from him.

Something tugged in him at the guilt plastered on Ryuuichi's face. He moved forward and engulfed him into a tight hug. He ignored the way Ryuuichi's frame stiffen slightly as he placed a hand at the back of Ryuuichi's head. "It's okay. Thank you" For telling me, even when it wasn't the whole story.

He raised an eyebrow when he heard a soft croak at the back of Ryuuichi's throat and pulled away enough to see his brother's grateful but flushed face. He laughed when Ryuuichi tugged him into another hug, hiding his red face from him.

Ryuuichi really, really didn't know why he was blushing, but damn, was Yuuichi cool. And adorable. He pouted at the laughter but joining in a moment later as well.

(He ignored the burn of someone's pricking stare. But he did narrowed his eyes at one of the trees full with bright green leaves, noting the familiar dirty brown hair. He turned away when he deemed that he wasn't going to attack them, and he was thankful for that)

\------------------------------------------------------

Basil sat by the tree, eyes wide as he watch the twins walked away. He leaned back onto the tree bark, his Metal Edge slack on his hand. He breathed in, trying to control his pounding heart. He had did all he could to hide his presence from Ryuuichi and Yuuichi. He had to admit, he wanted to attack Ryuuichi at that moment, but the narrowed gaze had him frozen. It didn't help when there was a civilian as well.

And Ryuuichi's aura, oh man his aura. He resembled a lioness protecting her cub with a very fierce prowess. It was so, terrifying in a sense that he couldn't stop the chill from running down his spine. His breath was taken away when that aura almost suffocated him, only to felt an aftermath of cold sweat when it died away.

His lips tugged into a feral grin. He never fought Ryuuichi before, and now? He definitely wanted to fight him. Even there was a high chance he would lose due to the nerve-wracking look.

\------------------------------------------------------

"So let's hear about the results from the First Day of the battle. What kind of fights did everyone get into the ten minute period? I'm excited to find out~" Ryuuichi sweated at the gleeful, sing-sang tone of Reborn's as he sipped on the ice tea he had ordered, sitting beside the Arcobaleno. He had reached home when Reborn called him along with the others in for a meeting, much to his chagrin.

And unlike the others, he wasn't nervous or in a bad mood or whatsoever. He was, however, unnerved by the gloomy atmosphere they created.

As Ryohei gave in his report on Hibari, he watched each of their faces, starting with Yamamoto and Gokudera's. They weren't exactly looking that bad, though Gokudera's usual scowl was harder. He then turned to Dino, tilting his head at the resigned look. Ah, the negotiation with Hibari. Right. Remind him not to wear the watch when disturbing Hibari for the time being.

He looked to Tsuna, staring at him the longest. He could clearly see the discontentment on the slightly sulking brunette's face. Well, to be fair, Tsuna didn't knew of his father strength and experience. Iemitsu had been gone from home for years and irritation on the man had built up quite a lot in Tsuna's heart. It wasn't much of a surprise that Tsuna would, even though he didn't realize it, look down upon his father slightly.

Ryuuichi bit the straw out of habit as the conversation on their alliance with Colonello's team drifted from his mind. "What about you, Ryuuichi?"

Reborn waited for the daydreaming teen to respond him, but he clearly didn't hear his question. He, with a deadpanned face, raised his hand and brought it down onto Ryuuichi's head, causing a loud yelp of pain from him. "W-what?!"

He raised an unimpressed eyebrow but was amused of the reaction. "Did anything happened during the ten minute period?"

Ryuuichi grumbled under his breath as he rubbed his head. Fortunately, Reborn didn't use much strength or he might just have a case of concussion. Okay not that bad, but it still hurts. "Well, nothing much. No one attacked." He didn't mention of Basil for he found that it wasn't much of a point.

Just after he had answer, a grin appeared on the hitman's face.

"Well done, everyone. This announcement is coming from all the participants of the representative battle watches"

Ryuuichi peered at the watch with a frown as he was surprised by the sudden announcement, almost causing him to drop his drink. He placed it on the table and leaned back.

"I'm the proprietor of the 'Representative Battle of the Rainbow', Checkerface" He snorted at the name of the battle, mildly wondering of the voice that sounded so different from what he had thought it would be. "Every future battle will occur exactly like this one did. And after each battle, I'll report each team's ranking. A hologram will be broadcast out from your wristwatches with this information"

And a hologram did appeared. Ryuuichi whistled, impressed. Verde's team had defeated five, that was very, not surprising. Mukuro is strong after all. That, and the combination of a blood-thirsty maniac and a mad scientist was just too overpowered. Then again, they do have Fran now.

Somehow, he had a bad feeling now that he think about it. He hoped nothing out of his knowledge would happen.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, well, not much action. Chapter 357-half of 364.
> 
> Starting off with Yuni wasn't exactly my plan, but I've no idea how to start it so meh.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi was woken up earlier than usual on weekends just because Sakura and Kei wanted him to 'let loose' a little. He complied, but not without a couple of grumbles here and there.
> 
> Fun Fact= Iemitsu and Basil talks a lot. I mean, a lot. About what? About damn fights and blood and all. How gruesome. Not.
> 
> I've never mentioned this, but Yuuichi's basketball coach is a 21 years old man who used to study at Namimori. A spartan coach and stubborn as hell. If anyone says that the coach was the most stubborn person, too bad they've never met Ryuuichi.
> 
> I had a canon on Basil that he is actually as blood thirsty as Hibari and Mukuro, though low-key and controlled.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	55. Day Two

"Oww! Damn this school has slippery hallways.." The twins exchanged a look. Ryuuichi had already knew who it was as he sighed exasperatedly while the younger wondered why did the voice sounded so familiar. "Ah, ouch! Off to a bad start from my very first day.." A Dino with a pair of spectacles came in, holding the English text book that Ryuuichi never really brought. "Ciao! Actually, in English that would be ' _Hello_ '."

He grinned cheerily as he walked up to the teachers desk. "I'm your new English teacher, Dino. Pleased to meet you!" The classroom boomed to life as the girls squealed at the handsome, foreign teacher while the guys sweated, remembering that he drove a red Ferrari to school.

"Ehh, before we start our lesson of the day, any questions?" Dino blinked in surprise and chuckled when almost everyone raised their hands. "Sensei! How old are you?" "Where are you from?!" "Are you taken?" Et cetera et cetera. Those questions literally had him doing a double take. He hadn't exactly expect half of those questions, but the students had proved him oh so wrong.

"Well, I'm twenty-two, I'm from Italy, and no, I'm still single" That, had the girls squealing. Loudly. To the point that the teachers next door took a peek. Ryuuichi winced at the volume, foreseeing a fanclub of Dino's forming. He shook his head at that as Dino tried to calm them down, to which the man failed badly.

Deciding that he had enough, he raised his hands and called out loudly through the screams. "Sensei!" His voice managed to surprise everyone, a grave silence fell in matters of seconds contrary to what it was a few moments ago. They all stared at Ryuuichi with wide eyes. They had never heard the teen scream before, let alone raise his voice. They did seen him angry before, no doubt, but even then, Ryuuichi didn't even shouted. In fact, his voice would just get lower and lower.

Yuuichi, who sat in front of the Ryuuichi by the window, was bewildered as well. Not that he had never heard of his brother raising his voice, he definitely had. But what shocked him was that Ryuuichi actually took things in hand and managed to silence the rowdy classmates of theirs. Usually his brother would simply ignore it and do his own things, but it wasn't the case this time. He looked to Dino who was eyes wide as well, and stared. 'That man... Wasn't he the one from the hospital..?'

Dino finally snapped out of it when Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "Ah-! Y-yes? What is it?"

"Can we start the lesson now? We've hit the fifteen minutes mark." True to what the teen said and what the clock by the door had shown, they had lost fifteen minutes. "R-right. We should start now" He ruffled his hair and opened the text book. "Please open page 120"

Ryuuichi flopped his hand onto the table, his left hand supported his head, elbow propped up onto the table as he watched Dino going into teacher-mode, eyes half lidded. His right hand made a shooing move to Yuuichi, signalling him to turn to the black board and concentrate on the class.

He smirked when Yuuichi stuck his tongue out at him, but complied. He stifled an inaudible yawn, blinking away the sleep in his eyes. He never really function well in the morning until it was nine-thirty, and it wasn't even a quarter after nine. He huffed and flipped his exercise book to the last page, doodling a Hibird.

" _Ryuuichi. Please stand up and read the twentieth sentence_." He twitched at the slightly accented English, looking up with a frown towards Dino as he ignored the stares from the others. Dino, in his teacher-mode, looked pointedly at him. Ryuuichi sighed and stood up, leaning on one leg.

"Um. I've forgotten to bring my text book" Actually, that was a lie. He never brought his English text book before as he found that it wasn't used that much besides the occasional exercise from the previous English teacher. She always gives exercises from other books and all, so he didn't bring them.

" _And may I ask why did you forget to bring your text book? Please speak in English_ " He twitched again at that. Okay, that irked him slightly. He crossed his arms and looked at Dino with a critical, judging gaze, though he wasn't judging. Just sizing the man up. He would give him his credit for not being offended or angered at his behavior.

" _Well,_ " He started off low and slow, a mischievous smirk formed. " _It's stuck on lowest level my shelf for almost half the year and is currently growing mold. Besides, we rarely use the text book and if I know that there was a new teacher, I would've brought it._ " (Yeah right. He definitely knew that there was a new teacher.) Those who could understand what he was saying gawked at him, frozen stiff for Ryuuichi had the gall to be this, sassy in front of a teacher. Their new teacher as the matter of fact. What happened to the saying 'First impressions are always important'? 

Oh, right. Ryuuichi never believe in that saying.

Much to their already weak heart, Dino returned a smirk of his own, but there was an edge. " _Is that so? I will let this time slide, but as a punishment,_ " Ryuuichi's smirk dropped. " _I would like you to come in front and charm someone in this room, in English, please_ " He raised an very amused eyebrow, eyes narrowed and flashed dangerously. Those few classmates of his choked on their saliva, growing red, especially the girls.

He slowly sauntered towards Dino, hands in his pocket. The smirk plastered back on his face while ignoring the stares from his classmates and brother. Dino merely watched as he walked towards him, getting more and more aware of the fact that the teen was heading towards him. He barely able to stop himself from taking a step back at that look.

Ryuuichi, once directly in front of Dino and out of the sudden, he grabbed Dino's tie and pulled him nearer, face too close for comfort. Ryuuichi wanted to push him back instead, but he held the urge in and didn't drop the facade.

" _You know, I would certainly like to_ play _with you,_ " He started, having his voice as low as he could get, looking into Dino's eyes all the while. (Dino visibly gulped) " _But as you can see, I've no interest in it at the moment. Fret not, however, because you're certainly a_ target _of mine._ " He leaned in a pecked on the man's cheek, laughing very,  _very_  hard internally.

He let go and walked back to his seat, but not before turning around and spoke in French instead, quite aware that Dino could understand. " _That's what you get for challenging me, dear_ " And he winked.

Once he was seated, he immediately buried his head under his arms and his whole body trembled as he laughed so hard that there was no sound. Yuuichi, eyes still wide, watched him with concern. "R-ryuu?"

While he was having his laughing feat, the girls  _squealed_  again. Dino had turned into stone on his spot, his soul flying out of his agape mouth, figuratively of course. A few guys were sporting red faces, namely Yamamoto and Gokudera. Tsuna was in a similar state as Dino was, but he too, was sporting a red face.

Let's just say Ryuuichi did not stop laughing for most of the lesson, almost fainting of oxygen deficiency.

(The lesson did not start until one annoyed Hibari Kyouya raided the classroom, hitting the frozen blonde on in the guts and face painfully, and bonked Ryuuichi's head harder than usual when he put two and two together. With just one look on Ryuuichi, and Dino)

\--------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi stared at Yuuichi who was doing his homework on Math, already done with his a moment ago and was bored. (It was self study period and Yuuichi had turned around to do it on his table) Yuuichi had his right hand which was holding the pencil, was against his chin, his left sliding slowly against the paper as he read the question. Ryuuichi mused silently that his brother has quite a slim wrist, from basketball, probably. He looked out to the window and at the blue sky, watching the clouds drift by with his head supported by his hand, propped up on the table.

"Oh yeah."

He looked back to Yuuichi who suddenly spoke and raised an eyebrow. His brother wasn't looking at him as he continued doing his homework, a hand on the calculator.

"I'll be staying over at Kouma-senpai's house with the others today." He had to recall who his brother was talking about for a moment before realizing who he was. It was Yuuichi's senpai from the Basketball Club, the captain, actually. He blinked. "Ah. It's almost time for Winter Cup, huh. Has the team for preliminaries decided?"

A brief nod was his answer. "Yeah. We'll be up against Minami Middle first" He hummed. He didn't hear much of the said school as it was a minor school. Though, he did heard of the newest member, a first year, which was said to be a prodigy as much as how Yuuichi is one. No doubt, Yuuichi and his teammates would discuss of this first year. "Did you pack your stuff?"

"Yeah."

He hummed again. Saying nothing of it. He was somehow slightly glad that he wouldn't have to explain to his brother of his whereabouts later tonight. His parents, on the other hand, were out to Tokyo for a job and won't be back until two days later. Such a coincidence. Well, he has no complain to this convenience anyway.

"Yuu, this is 90, not 70" "Eh?"

\--------------------------------------------------------

"Eh?! Two teams will be eliminated?! You're saying that two teams are going to lose in this next battle?!" Tsuna's voice was full with disbelief as he listened to Yuni's explanation and stuff.

"That's right. Though that's just what my clairvoyance tells me" "But in the future, I saw every single one of your predictions come true!"

Reborn then explained that the Sky Arcobaleno has a superior gift for clairvoyance. "So you don't know which teams are going to lose?" Yuni nodded briefly. "Correct. I can't see it that clearly" It was fortunate that she couldn't, or she might not be able to relax from all the things she would see. The good and the bad.

A muffled shout from a familiar voice was heard as they all turned to the door, wondering what was the commotion. "Let me down dammit!" Cue sweat drop and jaw drop from them except Reborn.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, our allied Team Reborn" Gamma and Byakuran appeared from the door, except Byakuran was carrying a struggling Ryuuichi on his shoulder like the teen was a bloody sack of potatoes. There was a slight red hue on the latter's cheek, either from exhaustion or embarrassment, Tsuna didn't know. "Byakuran! And Gamma! W-wait Ryuuichi?!" The said teen grunted at the brunette, still trying to get out of the white haired teen's vice grip. Damn, was the Marshmallow Freak strong.

"Dude! I'm getting sick here!"

Byakuran ignored him and talked to Yamamoto, who thanked him for healing him. Although, the latter could do without the last sentence of which Byakuran thought that it wouldn't work, saying that it's luck and all. Gokudera smiled almost,  _almost_ , a bit too relief at Gamma. "Yo, Gamma. I haven't seen you in a little while. You look younger these days"

"Don't get smart at me, boy. I'm still older than you, that hasn't change"

A vein popped.

"We've come here today to ask you about Team Verde. We've heard about who was defeated. Team Colonello's Oregano and Turmeric, and three people from your team" Reborn started.

Another popped.

"In truth, your team is quite possibly one of the most powerful teams here. I want to know how Team Verde managed to defeat three of your team members in ten minutes." And, the volcano erupted. Okay not really.

"Let. Me. Down!!" Ryuuichi kneed into Byakuran's gut as he jumps away from the slacken grip, landing on a crouched position as he glared at them with his hands on his abdomen. It was sore and all, and he was definitely feeling sick just then. Byakuran was fortunate that he didn't want to puke, or he would definitely do it. The rest watched with great amusement while a certain brunette sweated.

Byakuran was hunched over, nursing his definitely bruising abdomen. He whined almost comically. "That hurts, Ryuuichi-kun!" The said teen snarled. "Don't lie! You have, like, a bloody hard stomach you Marshmallow Freak!"

Gamma sighed at that. He had no idea why, but when he and Byakuran were out, they somehow stumbled across one bored looking Ryuuichi. (Actually, Ryuuichi was heading over to where they were temporarily staying, but was dwelling it as he only wanted to see the battle, not the conversation) Byakuran then decided that it was a good idea and went his merry way to grab the younger and throw him over his shoulder like he weighted nothing despite the loud protest. (He had to endure the stares from those they passed by and tried to not get them arrested for 'kidnapping')

"Continuing," He looked at Yuni. "Princess.. Is it alright if I tell them?" "Of course" He nodded, and took a gun out from his inner pocket of his vest. He walked over to Tsuna and Reborn's side from Yuni's and placed it on the table. "Take a look at this"

"A gun?" Tsuna tilted his head.

"That's a glock, isn't it? An Australian-made pistol"

Who knows how, but Byakuran managed to recover from Ryuuichi's attack and grin. "It looks like a real thing, doesn't it? But.. This gun.. Was created using illusory powers"

Reborn picked it up. "An illusion? But this feel.. It's got to be a real thing" Honestly, after all these years in the mafia and using guns of all kinds- Blunderbuss, submachine guns, Musket , sniper guns, rifles, shotguns, you name it, he used it before-, he could easily tell of a gun's quality and if its real or not. And this glock is real, that's for sure.

The fact that it was an illusion, however, did not make him doubt his deductions.

"To put it simply, Verde has created a machine that can turn illusions into reality" Ryuuichi glanced at the glock and narrowed his eyes slightly. He wasn't as experience as Reborn, nor was he much of an expert to differentiate between illusions and reality, but he could tell that it was indeed slightly different than a normal glock. There was something about it after all.

"Though by today, it's just started to come apart little by little. but for at least one full day, it's the real thing"

Mukuro was enough for all this illusions and stuff, but there's his apprentice, Fran. (Ryuuichi wouldn't be so surprise if those two create chaos and get away with it laughing their arse off)

"Well, that's it for the bad news. How about eating some of these marshmallow Bluebell brought? They're soft!" Ryuuichi, with a terrifyingly deadpanned look, stared at Byakuran. 'I wonder if I can shoot him with that glock..'

\-------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi walked out of the building, hands in his pocket as he stared up into the night sky. "I'll keep watch from above. I can lure out the enemy easily from above. I'll give it everything I've got~" He watched as Byakuran flew away, followed closely by Tsuna.

He rubbed the back of his neck and heaved a sigh. A thirty minutes battle. With Team Verde on lead and that Shouichi and Spanner haven't found the way to counter their real-illusions stuffs, it was a disadvantage on their side. Not to mention Mist users and the darkness. Well, not like Ryuuichi have anything to comment on it. He wasn't going to battle anyway.

But just in case, he let out Sora. He smiled and knelt down to pet him. The wolf pup growled softly into the hand when his deep grey eyes narrowed and a fiercer growl was let out, stiff and protective as he stood in front of Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at the wolf pup's behavior, and was answered with loud explosions and stuff.

He looked up to see the battle that has started, only to see one of the missiles heading towards him. He glanced back at the building behind him and scowled, putting up a translucent shield coated with Cloud Flame. The impact when the missile hit the shield almost threw him off,  _almost_. Illusion as it may be the damage it would cause are seriously bad. Just imagine if he were to dodge it instead, no doubt that it would cause a huge hole on the wall. If there wasn't any Lightning Flame coating on it, that is.

He smirked, a bit too amused. This was getting fun. He stood back up, cradling Shiro in his arms, his shield still up, wrapping around him like a bubble. He has no interest in getting into the hullabaloo despite finding it fun. Definitely  _not_.

Checkerface's subordinate appeared just by Zakuro's side, where his watch was destroyed by Mukuro himself. He and Mukuro jumped off the roof in opposite direction, the former running off to see an illusion of himself. And by Mukuro's side, Tsuna appeared and fought him. Apparently, Mukuro decided to taunt him.

And then Byakuran, Ken, Chikusa, Gamma and Kikyo bubbled over there. Ryuuichi stared with dead-eyes. Chaotic person attracts another, huh. Or was it idiots attract idiots? He shrugged at that thought and jumped away just in time for one of Kikyo's dinosaur popping out of the ground quite fiercely. And then came the missiles, again.

He looked up at the cliff right opposite of where they are, and tilted his head. He wondered if he should head there before that side started. Suddenly, a what seemed to be a blue stream of light shot across from the cliff towards their direction. Once neared, it shot out smaller streams and headed to all of them minus those in Reborn's team.

The bright light surprised Ryuuichi a little as he jumped. He glanced towards Tsuna who was talking to Iemitsu, and glanced back to the cliff. He sweated. He never went up against an Arcobaleno before, not fully. Now that the alliance with them was terminated, there's no doubt he would be targeted as well. He wasn't really sure that his shield could hold up against Colonello's shots.

(Honestly, he already knew that the shots wouldn't hit anyone else since their main priority was Tsuna, but his memories were damn hazy and, he really,  _really_  want to witness Reborn's transformation  _first hand_. God forbid if he didn't manage to see it.)

He looked at Sora and whispered 'Cambio Forma', and what surprised him once again was that when he let go of the wolf pup, Sora howled and glowed in bright orange light. (He had half expected Sora not being able to change since it wasn't made by Vongola, or so he had thought.) Once the light dispersed, a full grown wolf appeared, eyes glinting in the darkness. Oh he wasn't taken aback from seeing an adult wolf, oh no. What made him jaw drop was that Sora, was literally double his size, like, larger than a normal full grown wolf.

He gaped like a fish. Sora was amused when he nudged his head at Ryuuichi. He growled softly at the teen, urgency hinted. Ryuuichi snapped out of his stupor and glanced up at the sky, frowning when a visibly stronger stream of blue light was shot, heading towards Tsuna. He climbed up onto Sora's back, petting him as he tried very hard not to tug at his fur too hard.

Sora, once deemed that Ryuuichi was steady and in place on his back, took off. Ryuuichi yelped as he hugged Sora's neck tighter, pouting at Shiro and Kuro that somehow emmited a laughter-like sound from his bracelet. Sora ran pass the trees, heading up to the cliff where Tsuna had already headed towards and a sound of explosion was heard.

"Woah!" He clung tighter when Sora leaped onto the cliff, just in time to see Iemitsu throwing a boulder at Tsuna. He, still dazed from the ride, didn't noticed Colonello and Lal Mirch gawking at Sora's appearance, as his eyes widen. The boulder was larger than he had expected! It's huge!

Tsuna couldn't believe that Iemitsu was actually going to hospitalize him, his damn father who was never home. His heart tug painfully as the memories of loneliness and the lack of father's warmth hit him. If feelings could kill, he would've already died there, but no. Even if he didn't, he knew he wouldn't have enough time to run, much less survive this, like, there's no way someone could survive a bloody huge boulder crushing him, right?! He clenched his hands and raised it up to his head, last attempt on shielding himself.

His heart jumped, thumping loudly.

_**Bang!** _

He yelped when a gunshot was heard, hitting the boulder. More gunshots were heard until the boulder was nothing but C, H, A, O and S. The debris fell around Tsuna, all missing the brunette by inches. He curled up into a ball nonetheless.

Ryuuichi grinned stretched to the point he looked a  _lot_  like Cheshire Cat. He got off of Sora, thanking the wolf pup as he transformed back onto the bracelet. He hurriedly took out his phone which was already in silent mode, took a picture after he turned off the flash. Although it turned out quite black, he was extremely giddy of it. (He did put his phone back into his pocket to focus on the fight)

"There's only one person that could possibly.." "Pull off a feat like that.."

A tall man with a familiar fedora and curly sideburn stood a few feet in front of Tsuna, a hand on a black gun while another in his pocket.

"Chaos. Right?"

(Ryuuichi squealed.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehhhh. This is considered the part one of Second Day..? Half of 364-369. 
> 
> I had a whole lot of fun writing Dino's part. [Current me= Cringing]
> 
> Fun Fact= Sora, Kuro and Shiro were made from the same person who created the possibility for them to change into combat form. Only, Sora was a request from TYL Ryuuichi that he had handed to Dino so that the blonde could pass the box weapon to Ryuuichi and, Kuro and Shiro were a gift. TYL Ryuuichi wasn't amused, least to say.
> 
> Kuro and Shiro's Cambio Forma will appear... Probably much later. The next arc? Any suggestions on what they would be? (I was a bit perplexed by why I had Sora turning so large.)
> 
> Four word. Damn Iemitsu. Goddammit Reborn. 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	56. Goddamn Vindice

"W-who are you?!" Tsuna gawked.

"Looks like a rather tough fight. It's lesson time, Dame-Tsuna" Reborn, in all his glory, smirked. Though, there was an edge on it. He wasn't ticked off by Iemitsu's behavior. He himself as a hitman, understood very well of why the man act that way, and he wasn't going to condemn him for what he does. Iemitsu and him are mafia. What they did and do are of the mafia's way. They've killed, yet they've saved. The mafia wasn't a place for the weak, and definitely isn't now. What Iemitsu did was to show the cruel reality of their dark world to the brunette.

Tsuna, Reborn mused at the back of his mind, is strong, and is still growing. He could certainly tolerate it, for his friends and himself. But that doesn't erase the fact that he still hasn't seen it all. Tsuna hasn't realize that the mafia is darker than he had thought it would.

However, Reborn doesn't deny that he was annoyed at Iemitsu for not properly  _talk_  to Tsuna. He was irritated about it since the beginning, and it just grew from what he had saw. Still, he wasn't going to condemn the man of it. He is a  _hitman_ , and a  _tutor_. Not someone's counselor to solve their  _daddy issues_.

"A suit.. Pistols.. Y-you.. Who are you?!" Everyone had a double take right there, right then. Ryuuichi burst out into laughter to the point he had resorted wheezing for oxygen. "Oh dammit-" He laughed again. Reborn ignored it and sighed mockingly, his narrow eyes on Tsuna. "It's Chaos" He wasn't really surprise that Tsuna doesn't recognize him. The brunette managed to look through all his disguises and cosplays, but he couldn't even recognize him in his handsome form. It amused Reborn, yet he had almost wanted to shoot his student for it.

He hummed internally, pleased when his pronunciation on his usual greeting came back to him. His voice had changed when he was cursed, that he couldn't properly pronounce it. It irked him, but what could he do? So it changed to Ciaossu, the current one he was using.

"You don't know who he is?" Iemitsu started, sounding a bit exasperated. "This guy.." "Doesn't have a nickname like Dame-Tsuna"

"How did you know I was called Dame-Tsuna?!" "It's a famous name in my neighbourhood." What  _neighbourhood_? "What's that?!"

Reborn ignored the brunette along with the other two Arcobaleno and turned to Iemitsu. "Oi, Iemitsu. I'm your opponent now. Since you've already  _broke_  the alliance, I won't go easy on you" He released a bit of his killer intent, pleased to know that Iemitsu shivered slightly at it.

"Um. I'll lose my life if I don't my 100% when fighting you" He gave the man a feral, animalistic smirk for a split second before turning serious again. "Open your eyes and your ears, Tsuna,"

"I'm going to show you just  _once_ , and I'm going to say it just  _once_."

Tsuna perked at that, attention all on the fedora man. A sense of familiarity hit him. This man doesn't sound like Reborn at  _all_ , heck he didn't even know him, but he didn't know why, he automatically felt as though it was Reborn who was talking to him, the sense where he  _needed_  to listen.

"I'll teach you two things that you're lacking in," Iemitsu when into Hyper Dying Will Mode, orange flame flaring on his forehead. "Lesson one."

Reborn shot onto the ground as Iemitsu charged at him. The latter gave him a right hook, fist coated with Sky flame, only to miss Reborn. In a blink of an eye, Reborn appeared beside Tsuna and tugged his defying-gravity hair. "First, you need to observe Iemitsu," Tsuna hadn't even had enough time to jump in surprise when he continued. "During the period when Iemitsu was not home, you started to harbour cheap pride. And it became arrogance without you knowing.

"This pride of yours has appeared in every one of your battles. Dull attacks, tasteless techniques, Iemitsu is not an opponent that you can fight with if you look down on him. This guy," They made eye contact. "Has hundred times more fighting experience compared to you. He's also an exceptional warrior who has fought for his family hundred times more than you"

Tsuna blinked. Family, his father fought for his family. Half, he wondered if it was  _family_ , or  _famiglia_. But that alone started a small flame in him. A small flame of hope, possibly.

"But still less than me" The atmosphere was totally ruined when the man jump-kicked him, diving straight into the battle again. Tsuna, however, was kicked back as he did a few pathetic rolls back. "Lesson two. Dying Will" He and Iemitsu fought hand to hand, too fast for Tsuna's slightly untrained eyes.

"Recently, you've been too dependent on your abilities and forgot about your Dying Will." Iemitsu grabbed both of his hand and locked them into a cross. "The real dying will is the resolution to fight until your body is destroyed"

What he did next had Ryuuichi wincing yet was still gleeful of it. Damn he likes watching Reborn fight. The thrill was absolutely amazing. (He would blame those blood thirsty dudes for this later on) Reborn dislocated his shoulders and headbutted Iemitsu right onto the nose. Iemitsu wasn't amazed by that, but when the ground beneath him cracked slightly, he moved backwards a millimeter just in time to dodge the two bullets that aimed at his Carotid Artery.

"Chaos Shot" Reborn then kicked him with a strength that threw him back and crashed onto the 'wall'. Ryuuichi jaw dropped and silently clapped as he watched Reborn relocated his shoulders as though it doesn't even  _hurt_. He himself knew very much that dislocated shoulders can hurt like a, excuse the language, bi--tch, was totally amazed.

"Remember well, Tsuna. Acknowledge Iemitsu and the resolution to fight until the destruction of your body." Reborn gave a smirk and jumped off, towards the large boulder that shield him from their sight.

Ryuuichi rubbed his cheeks, jaw sore from grinning too much as he waited for Reborn in his cursed form to pop out. And when he did, he laughed again at Tsuna's reaction.

"Reborn, you.. Could you.." Wait for it.. "Have you seen the man in the suit?!" "Nope I didn't see him" Colonello and Lal Mirch double took again as Ryuuichi guffawed his arse off.

Ryuuichi had to kneel down from all the laughter, voiced disappeared as his body trembled. He probably could gain abs from all that laughing, okay not really. Another obnoxious laughter from Iemitsu was heard as the man stood up from the crater he had somehow created. "That was close, really close. A life and death battle sure is fun. As I thought, being at the scene of things is more suitable than desk work for me."

He brushed off the dust from his suit. "So Tsuna, have you fully understood what that guy said?"

"Go" Tsuna somehow shrieked slightly. "Aren't you in the middle of a war stimulation?" "Yes, but-!" He finally did listen and swallowed his pills when Reborn sent a flying kick onto his face.

Ryuuichi plopped down onto the ground, hands supporting him from falling as he leaned back. He grinned at Reborn as they watched Tsuna's battle. " _Aren't 'cha proud?_ " He spoke in Italian. Even if he wasn't looking at the Arcobaleno, he knew Reborn's eyes glinted, at Tsuna and his words. " _Who knows._ "

Really, Ryuuichi have to massage his cheeks when he get back later. If he doesn't have to kill Vindice afterwards, that is.

\---------------------------------------------------

After receiving the news from Basil, and from Checkerface, they wasted no time rushing to the hospital. Ryuuichi clenched his fist when there was a sharp tug on his and Enma's bond. Still, he kept his emotions in check and pushed them down as they ran to where Basil was. He frowned slightly upon Basil's explanation but said nothing upon it. Instead, he reached up and patted the teen on his head.

Then came Kyoko, who explained Chrome's condition. She wanted to be in Reborn's team, as one of the representative. It wasn't long until they left the hospital with a heavy heart and solemn face. Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto had left for dinner as Ryuuichi stayed behind with Reborn and the rest of the Arcobaleno, watching over the unconscious Skull.

He was leaning against the wall, staring off into space as the Arcobaleno gathered around Skull. He was half listening, half daydreaming when his phone rang. He blinked, snapping out of it and excused himself and stood outside the room. "Hello?"

"Ah, Ryuu." He raised an eyebrow at the familiar voice. "Yuu?"

"A random question," There was shuffles and rustles, and hushed voices. "Under what kind of circumstances will one have to admit that he's wrong?" Ryuuichi just, at that point, had a very blanked face. He suspected that he was on speaker on Yuuichi's phone. "What?" Yuuichi, on the other side, could literally see his brother's face and scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Well-"

"When that person is wrong, obviously." There was a small cheer, but Ryuuichi ignored it. "T-then if the thing was about romance?!"

Oh god. Yuuichi's teammate did  _not_  just ask him for advice on that topic. "I thought you guys are studying your next opponent?" Yuuichi immediately cut in. "We did! But these dudes just won't rest about it!" Ryuuichi let out a particular loud sigh. He rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his weight onto another leg.

"Obviously, both party needs to understand each other and their flaws. No matter what kind of circumstances it is, whoever's wrong or felt that they did wrong have to apologize. Or at least, talk to each other. What's the point of being together if both side doesn't want to give way on shits?" He wasn't a bit remorseful that he had actually cursed towards Yuuichi's teammate, that a few were probably first years. And the coach might be there.

An particularly loud shriek of laughter had him pulling his phone away from his ear. "I told you!!" was loudly screamed, followed by a groan.

"U-um.. Sorry about that, Ryuu." He sighed again, rubbing his temple. "No, it's okay." He cast a brief glance at his watch. "All of you, if there's nothing else better to do,  _go to sleep_. Ciao." And he cut it off. He grumbled under his breath and pocketed his phone, but not after casting a second glance on the time.

He turned his head towards the door when it slid open and close. "Done?"

A nod was his answer. Reborn leaped and jumped onto his head, sitting there. Ryuuichi twitched at the sudden movement but paid no heed as he walked out of the hospital. "How's Skull?"

"Still very much alive."

He hummed, almost nodding when he suddenly remembered that Reborn was on his head. Now he should walk to Tsuna's direction.

\---------------------------------------------------

Tsuna quickly shifted left to avoid the incoming chain, gritting his teeth. He cursed under his breath, mildly aware that Yamamoto and Gokudera are alright. The Vindice was too strong, and even with the three of them, they were having hard time overpowering the bandaged man. "You all!" A familiar voice was heard and all of them snapped their head towards the direction, seeing Reborn and Ryuuichi running towards them.

Ryuuichi stopped as the Arcobaleno leaped. He, in split second, took out his gun from his shoulder holster and fired at the Vindice's side, a warning shot. His eyes were flashing dangerously as if he just remembered something that angers him, which he did. It missed, of course, since it was merely a warning shot. Fortunately for them, he had a silencer, or they might attract unwanted attention.

He snarled when the Vindice turned to him, saying nothing. "Scram." The Vindice took a moment and stare at him, before disappearing. "I'll retreat."

He glared at the spot, huffing in annoyance. He had only remembered about Nana just now, to which he had cursed out loud. Goddamn Vindice. They were lucky that he was still sane or they would face his wrath. 'So much for a  _mafia_  police' He mentally spatted.

"The four of you," He turned to Reborn as he kept his gun. "Go rest. I'll be back later." And the hitman leaped away, perhaps heading to Tsuna's house. Ryuuichi ruffled his hair and huffed. "I'm crashing at yours, Yamamoto." He raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the said teen was frowning slightly.

"Yamamoto?" Yamamoto snapped out of his reverie and blinked at Ryuuichi. "W-what- Sure!" He smiled, but it was a bit forced. Ryuuichi said nothing else, only staring at Yamamoto as they walked to his house.

\---------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi sighed as he ran, lagging behind the group, yawning. He knew that they would commence into the next battle right on the first second of midnight, but damn, was he tired. He hadn't himself to be this tired, but honestly he couldn't care right now. His mind drifted to Hibari, wondering how he was doing. He was probably fighting with Dino. Ryuuichi sweated, sympathizing the man.

They ran to the park and there Mukuro was, with a bruise on his face and bandage peeking out from his shirt. Ryuuichi tilted his head, noticing Mukuro wasn't exactly being himself. Then he looked towards Yamamoto and back to Mukuro. For some reason, he found their facade quite similar at the moment. He frowned.

"I heard that you're badly injured. There's no point in waiting for a battle, when you don't even know when it'll start." Reborn said.

"Then, why are you here? Why did you come to Namimori?"

Mukuro hesitated. "I don't intend to answer that. Either way, you saved my time to find you" His eyes met Ryuuichi's for a moment, but that split second made him wanted to scowl, though he refrained himself. Ryuuichi wasn't so subtle as his frown turned into a scowl openly.

Half, towards Mukuro and another towards the incoming cold presence. He took little notice when Verde, Ken, Chikusa, M.M. and a sleeping Fran appeared, only giving a smile when the latter was sleeping so soundly. (He didn't know whether to envy that boy, or to be exasperated)

And then Vindice came. Three of them, actually. Ryuuichi immediately moved more to the side, giving the others space to do whatever they want. As those in Verde's team tried to wake the youngest up, clearly distracted for a second, the Vindice attacked. They thrusted their hands out as their rattling, cold chain shot towards both Mukuro and Tsuna, or at least that was what Ryuuichi had expected.

One of the chains headed towards him. His eyes narrowed in confusion and annoyance. He side stepped to the right and grabbed the chain with his bare hands. Bad mistake. He winced as he held it tightly, looking down to see his hands bleeding. He huffed, but didn't let go.

He looked around and sighed in relief when none of the rest noticed, smoke and dust obscure all of their sights, including his. He twitched his fingers a little, wondering if he should use his flames. He hadn't want to fight, clearly leaving everything to the others to handle, but Vindice had another plan, or so he felt that they had. 'And weren't they aiming for the boss watch?'

As he entertained himself with his turmoil, a temporary alliance between Team Reborn and Team Verde was formed. They, especially Tsuna and Mukuro, knew very well that they wouldn't be able to win against this bunch of creeps without teamwork.

"They're coming!"

Tsuna's voice and the slight tug on the chain snapped Ryuuichi out of his reverie just as another set of chains with sharp points shot towards them. Ryuuichi cursed under his breath and let of the chain he was holding to jump aside, a translucent purple shield up on instinct.

He only blinked in surprise, not realizing that he did release his flames. (He silently declared that he couldn't control his flames well if he was tired) He bit the inside of his cheek and hurriedly climb up a tree. He didn't why he did it, but he did.

He was literally having a VIP seat though, so he wasn't complaining. He flexed his hands and summoned his sun flames a little to heal the wound, eyes never leaving the other's attack. First was Gokudera's, then Ken, then Yamamoto, then Chikusa, then Tsuna and lastly Mukuro. He clapped in amazement, all other thoughts disappeared without a trace.

'Wait, why is there a bloody portal behind me?'

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\------------------------------ **Bonus 1** \-----------------------------

He walked for almost half an hour until he stopped, a scowl on his face. He took out his gun from the shoulder holster underneath his vest and pointed at his right. A black flame swirled once and Bermuda appeared.

The infant chuckled, not surprised that he was greeted by a gun in the face. "Good evening, Ryuuichi-kun."

The said teen blankly replied with a sharp edge in his voice. " _Good_  evening to you too, Bermuda."

"My my, don't be so tense. I'm not here to attack you" Even with that word, Ryuuichi didn't lower his gun. For all he knew, if he were to let his guard down in front of Bermuda, he might get killed. He said nothing, waiting for the bandaged, floating infant to continue. "I'm here to offer a proposal; Join my team, Ryuuichi-kun," He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, gun still pointing towards Bermuda.

"With you, I'll be able to find Checkerface and seek revenge on him. I can bring him to justice." Bermuda stretched his hand out. Ryuuichi frowned slightly. "What?" Bermuda's gleeful tone irked him as he gripped his gun tighter. Instead of lowering his guard, he had actually rose it a notch. He knew that if he were to lower it even an inch, he might just get killed.

"I know you met him before, Checkerface. He even invited you."

"So you're a stalker," He huffed a little, clearly uncomfortable of that. "I've not met Checkerface," He ignored the sudden change of atmosphere from the infant.

"Lies! You clearly have met him!"

He shook his head. "No. I've not met him, and I definitely haven't. Who I met on that day, was someone else." He scoffed. "And I believe what you said of bringing him to justice was more of maiming and slaughtering him, no?"

"I'm a protector of the Mafia Law, Ryuuichi-kun. He had done so much, he shall get so much. Maiming and slaughtering him are considered a light punishment." Bermuda's voice was hard and cold. "Are you trying to cover him?"

"God,  _no_. I'm not trying to cover him, nor am I trying to help you. What you're going to do to him, or whatever  _shit_  will happen between you two has nothing to do with me." Ryuuichi honestly doesn't care about it. Bermuda and Checkerface. These old dudes can fight to their death for all he care, but as though it will happen. That won't happen.  _Tsuna_  will happen.

If he hadn't knew of what Bermuda's subordinates had done, or if he didn't have a bloody rational mind, he might just as well join the for the sake of it. But no. He has his principle, and he might as well one day raid the goddamn prison.

"Your subordinate attacked a  _civilian_ , Bermuda" He emphasized the word, Bermuda twitched. "You subordinate, for the sake of breaking Sawada Iemitsu's boss watch, attacked  _Sawada Nana_ , who was a full-fledged  _civilian_. A goddamn  _civilian_  that shouldn't even be involved in this pile of bullshit!"

There was no doubt he was angry by the way he was snarling and that he had to restrain himself from shooting Bermuda right there, right then. He honestly has nothing against them, or whatever they do. Not even when they brought Mukuro to prison. But attacking Nana?

Bermuda stayed silent for a moment. He knew nothing of it. It was known in the mafia that no civilian was supposed to be involved or dragged in, and the Vindice held onto it strongly. Once a civilian knew of the mafia, they no longer classify as one, but a mafiaso as well. However, Bermuda knew that Sawada Nana, although her husband's the CEDEF leader and her son's the Vongola Tenth, she knew nothing of the mafia. She's hundred percent clean.

"It seems like you won't take up the offer" 'Not after what you had said' Bermuda knew not to question the teen right in front of him of his knowledge. The whole confusing ordeal of the Historian, despite being  _confusing_  because seriously, it needed to be mentioned more than once, was complex and Bermuda only knew a portion of it. He remembered the time when he, representing the Vindice of course, made the Oath with the First Historian.

Caelum had briefly explained of what he had knew of the ability given to him, for the man himself didn't knew much of it as well. And then came the reincarnation thing. Oh they had never saw that coming, both Caelum and him. When Caelum passed, Bermuda could feel his soul disappearing. He, finding that losing the Historian wasn't much of a problem, lived on with it. Until ten years after, he felt the soul appearing again. Intrigued and confused, he went and search for the soul, to come across a child of ten.

Said child had a confused look on his face when Bermuda appeared, but his wisdom was of Caelum's. That was when they figured out of the reincarnation. Let's just say after Caelum reincarnated, he in his child vessel had almost turned the other 'world' upside down to find the truth.

What a merry,  _good_  time.

Ryuuichi sneered slightly. "Obviously" Bermuda drifted upwards slightly when his warp appeared behind him. "It's your loss then, Ryuuichi-kun" And he disappeared. Ryuuichi waited for a moment, making sure that he couldn't feel Bermuda's presence anymore and sighed, hand dropped down to his side.

If the infant hadn't leave for another minute, Ryuuichi might not be able to hold his gun up. He rubbed his shoulders, rolling them as he put back his gun.

He glanced at his watch, the normal one, and huffed. 'Whatever. I'm crashing at Hibari's'

\----------------------------- **Bonus 2** \-------------------------------

 

Ryuuichi quietly crept up to Hibari, tiptoeing silently, or at least he attempted to because no matter how silent you are, Hibari will always know. Unless you're Reborn, or Fon. (Ryuuichi kind of learned it the hard way)

Just as he was about to tap the prefect on his shoulder with both of his hands, Hibari turned around. He yelped and fell forward, losing his balance at the other's sudden turn.

A pair of arms wrapped around him, holding him against the lean chest to prevent him from falling flat on the ground. He blinked in surprise, trying to process what had happen. "What are you doing?" He twitched rather violently and leaned his head away from the said chest that was vibrating slightly as Hibari spoke.

"Nothing!" He winced when he accidentally blurted it out too fast. Hibari raised an eyebrow and tighten his grip over Ryuuichi's frame. "Oh? It doesn't seem that way though."

Ryuuichi glared at him. (Which Hibari find that he looked more like an enraged yet adorable kitten because let's be honest here, who can top the prefect himself when it comes to glares? Probably Adult Reborn) Hibari was clearly messing with him. He could tell. The prefect's grey eyes were glinting in amusement after all.

And then he blinked, looking directly into them, tilting his head a little. He just realized that Hibari's eyes weren't just grey. There was a slight tint of very pale blue in it. It wasn't very obvious so one had to stare hard to notice it or it would just go unnoticed. He was in awe, finding them beautiful. His own dark brown eyes were literally sparkling, which Hibari obviously noticed.

Curious of what the younger was thinking about, he leaned in closer.

"What is it?"

Ryuuichi finally snapped out of it, very much aware that Hibari's face was too close, for the nth time as his face flushed slightly. ('Seriously, what the heck is wrong with him?') Automatically, he leaned further back, creating more distance. His mind go haywire for a moment to think of an excuse, or something, because his mind had just went blank in matter of seconds.

"... Just thinking why you have a cat sticker on your face."

.

.

"Wha-" He patted both sides of Hibari's cheek quite hard, watching those eyes widening as he  _trashed_  out of Hibari's slightly slacken grip and  _ **ran**_.

On Hibari's cheeks were literally,  _cat stickers_. Namely,  _Pusheens_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm.. I had a block with this chapter. UGH. 370-381. Please bear with me as I crap the next few chapter because I felt that it would be, crappy until the last battle with Vindice. Probably. No promises on anything.
> 
> Sorry for the cliffhangeerrr! I really need to end this goddamn chapter because I have practically no idea what to write and damn I'm lazy to rewrite everything from manga. [Current me= Ughhhhh whyyy]
> 
> Bonus 1 is a draft that I had wrote before, but I found that there was too much holes in it so I change it. I felt that it was a shame to delete it so, ya. It's a bit weird. Quite. The content is not official, and as I've said, it was a draft. So don't take it too seriously.
> 
> Bonus 2= Oh damn, that was fun. At least I was able to release some tension here. [I think I did]
> 
> [I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes]


	57. Planning With Hope

Ryuuichi tried to resist the urge to scream in frustration. Really, he did tried. But he still did

He panted for a moment before realizing that his right hand's knuckles were bleeding. 'Ah.' He had punched the wall to vent it out before he had the time to stop himself. He didn't even managed to register that the wall is  _hard_  as hell. He winced and pulled away. He rubbed his knuckles and faced the two highly amused men again, or, one men and an infant.

"You want me to  _what_ again?"

Bermuda chuckled. "I want you to join us, Ryuuichi-kun." Ryuuichi ruffled his hair in annoyance and glared at the infant. (He was a bit pissed that he couldn't see the rest of the fight.) "No thanks. I've no interest in going along with your plans against Checkerface."

His goosebumps appeared when the infant chuckled again, eerily cheerful for his own good. "Too bad, I won't take no for an answer" A chain suddenly, in a blink of an eye, shot towards him. Ryuuichi cursed out loud and tried to dodge, but it was too fast and it impaled onto his side. He choked as pain shot across his being.

"Don't worry. Jager didn't hit any of your vital organs. We still need you to be alive after all."

He jerked and screamed when the chain was pulled out suddenly. He heaved, trying to calm himself down as he clutched his bleeding side. He sneered. "By injuring them? What a brilliant plan." He summoned his sun flames, but he was sure that he definitely needed some medical attention. He rather not get an infection and he couldn't summon his flames more than he expected due to blood lost.

He was getting light headed as he peered down to the pool of blood beneath him. He grimaced and looked back at the infant sitting on Jager's shoulder.

"My answer will still be no,  _Bermuda_. We may be allied in another word, but currently, I'm under Reborn and Tsuna. Whatever their decision is, I will follow  _theirs._ " He snorted a little. "And even so, I'll never help you to go against Checkerface just because of your stupid revenge and hatred. Goddamn  _move on_ "

He tensed up again when he literally felt Bermuda's crazy grin underneath his bandages. 'Oh shit'

(He decided there and then, that he was an idiot for letting his guard down even the  _slightest_.)

\------------------------------------------------------------

"I've decided, Bermuda. I'm going to follow Tsuna. Negotiations are over"

Bermuda laughed at Reborn's answer. "You're really something, Reborn-kun. To think that you put so much work into Sawada Tsunayoshi" A killer intent was released almost immediately. "You think you're going to get out with that answer?"

"You think we can't leave on our own?" Tsuna challenged back. "If you don't accept our conditions there's no reason to let you live. Stay back, Bermuda" "Leave it to me, Reborn" Both the infant on their shoulder jump off to give those two space, and in not more than a minute, they started.

Everything happened in a blur and before they knew it, Tsuna was hit. Though, a large, black panther managed to catch Tsuna by his mouth before he crash into the ground and create a crater. Their fight stop short when another panther, a white one, stepped in.

On top of the white panther was a bleeding profusely Ryuuichi, pale as he smiled weakly at a rather surprised Tsuna and Reborn. He had one eye closed, his forehead cut open and his abdomen was practically leaking blood like a broken dam.

"My. I'm quite surprised that you still can move that much, Ryuuichi-kun." The said teen glared at Bermuda, with annoyance and anger. (His own pride was wounded badly.) "I'm  _surprised_  that you are still oh  _so_ arrogant after being denied." He snapped back.

"We're  _leaving_ , Bermuda" His voice was hard. Bermuda chuckled, but there was a sharp edge in it. "Of course." The infant turned to Reborn and Tsuna. "Reborn-kun, I'm giving you time to reflect since it's clear as day that both you and the boy doesn't understand the situation. I want you to consider once again the possibility of becoming my ally. I'll listen to your answer when the next representative battle starts. I'm very much sure we will meet again. Since you're smart and I think you already understand, but let me tell you.

"But it's already too late. Whether you accept my invitation or not, you're going to burn in hell."

He then turn to Ryuuichi again. "I laud you, Ryuuichi-kun, for you are very stubborn."

The said teen snarled. "And I laud you for being such an ass." Bermuda chuckled again, amused this time. "The exit is there. Just pass through the flames. See you" And he and Jager disappeared.

Ryuuichi, once clear, he promptly leaned onto Shiro's neck, weakly tugging at her fur. He was getting more lightheaded as second passed and he was so sure that he would collapse if Bermuda stayed any longer. (He had not want to do that in front of the infant) He could barely heard Tsuna and Reborn's concerned voice before he blacked out as Shiro started moving.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

_"Why does the star shine? Why does the sun rise? And why does the moon appear?"_

_"To bring a new beginning_ _"_

The soft rustling and constant beeps were the first thing he noticed. His eyelids felt so heavy and the urge to just sleep again was high, but there was something at the back of his mind told him not to, nagging, even. He almost wanted to scowl at it, his fingers unconsciously twitched.

His eyes shifted as he willed them to open with much reluctant. He was not mused, however, when he was greeted with bright light. He groaned and closed them in reflex before opening them again, blinking a few times to get his eyes adjusted.

He felt as though his whole head was wrapped by cloth since he couldn't clearly hear what was going on. Or perhaps it was just his brain gearing up to get his whole nerve system to function. Or he was under anesthetic. Definitely that. "Hey, Ryuuichi. Are you alright? Wait I'll call the doctor."

A rather familiar face popped into his view as he tried to register who it was.

Ah. Dino.

Why was Dino here? Then again, where was he in the first place? A moment later, another man who he presumed was the doctor came. The doctor checked a few things and asked him a few questions and what else it totally slipped his mind because seriously, he felt as though he just woke up from a thousand years slumber. It was hard enough for him to function well right after waking up, what made them think he could do any better right now?

Once the doctor was gone, since that nothing much was wrong with him, he looked back up at Dino. That was when he realized there was an IV drip. He was poked with a bloody needle. Without him knowing. The miniature him inside his mind winced at that, but he had this confused look outwardly.

"How are you feeling?" The blonde took a seat on the plastic chair beside his bed, looking rather concern. Too concern. The way he scrunched his eyebrows made Ryuuichi wonder if he would get wrinkles from that. He nodded. "Where?" Okay, he did not just sounded like a frog. Fine. He did. He grimaced, finding it so familiar with the first time he managed to land himself in the hospital as well.

"Namimori Hospital. Shamal was away, so Tsuna and Reborn brought you here. You were badly injured, with two broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a stab wound on the abdomen just missing the vital organs by a few inches and quite a deep cut on the forehead." Dino's voice came out a bit shaky as he recalled what the doctor had filled him in.

'Of course. The hospital. Where else would I be when I'm half dead.' He mused dryly. Memories of his fight with Bermuda and Jager replayed in his mind like a broken record. More like, it was him dodging Jager's attack and failing pretty much. And damn, did Bermuda know how to annoy him. (He was pretty sure the infant, at some point, managed to accuse him of  _breaking the goddamn Oath_ when Bermuda was the one who seemed to be breaking it.)

"What happened?" Ryuuichi subconsciously tilted his head more to the man at the desperate voice. "You're very strong, Ryuuichi.  _What_ happened?"

"Reborn told me that it had something to do with the Vindice, but he himself didn't know what happened." He glanced away for a moment before opening his mouth.

"Bermuda and Jager happened" He said after clearing his throat. He grunted and sighed. "Tried to make me on their team, rejected him, he went his merry way." Well, he couldn't exactly remember much because he was for sure having blood deficiency and his mind wasn't exactly that clear.

"What?! Wasn't the Vindice under the oath of not injuring the Historian?!" He could literally see Dino planning to destroy Vindice in his mind, so he quickly interfered. "Ah, but we met up not as the Historian nor the Mafia Police. We met up as ourselves." There was a difference in that, and he wasn't going to bring all those up. Their oath was still intact, that's for sure. It was quite clear between both parties that what they did involves nothing of their oath and stuff.

"And no. The Vindice and the Historian wasn't under the oath of that. The oath was more towards duties. Wait," He raised an eyebrow at Dino, or he tried to. He ended up looking weirdly at the blonde. "How the hell did you know of the Oath between the Vindice and the Historian?"

He narrowed his eyes when Dino sweated and looked away, visibly flinching at some point. "W-wellll, I researched...?" He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Did my parents and Yuuichi knew?"

Dino shook his head, much to his relief. "Sakura and Kei are working, so it's best not to disturb them. They can be quite scary when they're working." He laughed nervously. "As for your brother, Tsuna told him that you're staying at Kyouya's at the moment."

"Hahh..."

Ryuuichi huffed, flexing his fingers. "Um, Ryuuichi?" He hummed, indicating that he was listening. "Tsuna planned to take back your battler's watch." He raised an eyebrow as Dino quickly explained.

"Not because of anything, it's just that-"

"Tsuna had told you of his plan." He plainly said and groaned. "How long have I being unconscious?"

"Not more than 24 hours. Your wounds were mostly healed when you reached the hospital since your white panther kept pumping sun flames into your body until she was forced to let Tsuna take you for blood transfusion. You did lost quite a lot of blood- Wait how did you know of Tsuna's plan?"

"I just do." He looked around and couldn't seem to notice any of his box weapons' presence. They're nowhere near him. Then again, how did Kuro and Shiro grow so big? (All he knew was blacking out for one second and the next, two huge panthers standing in front of him and one of them picked him up. Literally.) "If you're looking for them, they're with Tsuna's." He nodded. If Tsuna wasn't here, then he probably was going to confront Reborn.

"Do you guys not have enough battler's watch?" Dino blinked at the sudden question.

"We do have enough, but since you're this injured.."

"Then I'm keeping it." "What?!" Ryuuichi tilted his head to look directly into Dino's eyes. "I said I'm keeping it. I will fight as well."

"But you're-!" "Yes, I'm injured, and it hurt as hell. But I'm healing. Why do you think my flames are lit?" Dino looked down at Ryuuichi's right hand and was surprised that his ring was glowing slightly in yellow. Since when did the teen started? He didn't even notice.

"It's not as though I'll do much. But," He shuddered at the murderous glint in Ryuuichi's eyes. "I've quite some bones to pick with Bermuda and Jager."

(He was discharged right a few hours after that with little to no problem. Much to the doctor and nurses surprise.)

\------------------------------------------------------------

A shudder ran down Reborn's spine as he listened to Tsuna's rage, his student's heart. The fact that the wimpy brunette he had tutored wasn't gone, but simply gained a back bone and unwavering resolve was absolutely satisfying yet dreadful. His student grow fast. Faster than he had ever expected and yet, too fast for his liking. He is proud of him and of what he did, and that will never change.

However, the mere thought of the brunette risking his life for the Arcobaleno's, Reborn's life, it just shook him to the core. Not that he will ever admit. When he had taken up this profession as a hitman, when he decided to kill, he had knew that he would die not of old age, but murdered. (Deep in him, he hates the thought of dying in the hands of an enemy, or death in general. But he's a  _hitman._ ) He  _knew_ , that the day he leave this world will come. And if he were to bring his student along with him, he'll be damned.

"I definitely won't let you die."

God, please, no.

( _Don't take this sky away, no. Don't._ )

He faked asleep, eyes closed but shadowed by his fedora. He waited until Tsuna walked away before plucking away the fake bubble. He smiled wryly, but he honestly had a whirlpool of turmoil in him. Half of him screamed to go with Tsuna's plan, and the other half just wants him to not get the brunette more involved. For the first time, he had no idea what to  _do_.

"Yo." He turned around, face solemn from all the thinking after a long period of time to glance a certain teen. "What are you doing out of the hospital?" He watched the teen carefully sat down on the stairs, not on the previous spot Tsuna had sat, Reborn's right. He wondered if that was intentional, or it was simply just a coincidence.

"I'm alright." He raised an eyebrow when Ryuuichi patted his abdomen, right on the spot where his wound should be. Honestly, Reborn wasn't that much surprised when Ryuuichi looked unscathed like he hadn't almost died just hours ago.

"Why are you crying?" Reborn was taken aback by the sudden question. Cry? Was he? He definitely wasn't. He hadn't cried for years, and probably wouldn't for years to go, if he had any left, that is.

"Your eyes weren't injured, were they, Ryuuichi?" The said teen rolled those said eyes and made his question clearer. "I don't mean outright crying. I meant you're crying inside."

He didn't even took a peek at Reborn's widen eyes. No, he simply just stare ahead, looking at the small town. He tilted his head slightly, intertwining his fingers together as he spoke again, not waiting for an answer. "Well, you don't have to answer that. But you know, it's not good to always bottle things up"

"... Speak for yourself, Ryuuichi" He chuckled at that, not even the slightest offended. "Ah, I never claimed that I wasn't a hypocrite." He smiled. "Still, try to open up more."

Silence fell as Reborn didn't reply. Ryuuichi didn't expect him to be anyway. He knew just how hard it was for someone to fully open up. He knew very  _well_.

"You're still in this battle?" Ryuuichi blinked. He looked down to the battler watch on his left and nodded. "Yeah." "Even if the outcome will be the same?" Ryuuichi  _laughed_. Reborn gave him a look as he tried to tone down his laughter before fully stopping after a minute or so, lips tugged upwards.

"Oh, Reborn. Who knows what will happen in the future. Who knows what outcome will pop out and jump scare the living shit out of us." Reborn cracked a smile.

(Moments later, Tsuna who had just finished discussing with Yamamoto and Gokudera, wondered where was Ryuuichi.)

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi rubbed his left wrist absentmindedly, not used to the lack of a watch on his wrist as Kuro and Shiro purred on his lap, sleeping. Sora was somewhat, conversing with Roll? How was that possible, Ryuuichi didn't know. Hibari had perched himself on the roof, but not before plopping Sora, Kuro and Shiro on his lap. He didn't placed Roll with him, just that the hedgehog had stuck himself on Sora's head. Figuratively.

Speaking of his battler watch, he gave it to Tsuna to be kept as they have a meeting. He peered around and glanced at the men and other teens Tsuna had gathered as the brunette explained. He wasn't exactly listening, so he merely observed the others. It was quite amusing how their stoic face twitched slightly and the whole expression somehow switched from amusement to seriousness.

"Because there's no hope of victory at all." Ryuuichi finally turned to Tsuna, watching those brown eyes glinting in slight orange. "The fact that all of you came here for me, as well.. I think Reborn would surely be against it if he knew. Of course, that's not unreasonable. This fight is too dangerous." He smiled at that.

Enma chuckled. "But Tsuna-kun, your face doesn't say that there's no hope of victory." "Seriously, It's a face that show no intention of losing." "It's time like this that Tsunayoshi-kun is scary."

"What are you planning, spill it."

Tsuna felt an overwhelming warmth from them. Even if they didn't outright say it, it was settled that they're following his plans this time. Not for his sake, but for their companions'. But it still doesn't fail to make him absolutely glad despite his fears for them.

"I haven't settled on the details, but I've decided on one thing so far. This time, we'll go offensive!"

(Ryuuichi smiled and relaxed slightly. Might not be the best thing to do in a room full of powerful mafiaso, but he trust them. Kuro, Shiro and Sora looked up to him as they felt his flames humming. Noticing this, he smiled at them and pet each and one of them on the head.

Hibari, on the rooftop, peered at the smiling teen who didn't notice his stare. His eyes narrowed at the small bandage on his forehead. From what he had heard from the Bronco, Ryuuichi had healed himself despite being flame depletion. Not all of his wounds were healed. Something bubbled in Hibari at that thought, the urge to bite someone to death rose, especially towards the Vindice.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehhh, why do I felt that there's so much plot holes and all in this chapter? [Current me= Because there IS too much plot holes gdi] Chapter 381 to 392.
> 
> I was thinking that Ryuuichi really needed to be heavily injured after all these chapters of him little to no injuries at all. The last time I had him injured was in Kokuyo Arc and, that was like 30 plus chapters back????
> 
> So here. A heavily injured Ryuuichi. I have not much idea how Jager fully fights and how Bermuda is, so I didn't elaborate. Help. I'm bad at that. And I'm really really bad with their personalities. Like, how????? All I see was Bermuda is a revenge maniac who in the end protects the pacifiers and Jager as a lost puppy of Bermuda's. 
> 
> I've a thing with separate entities. (Not disoriented identities. Nope. Different!) I don't know why. Why exactly? I'm practically obsessed with those kind of stuff.
> 
> Fun Fact= The phrase 'Don't take this sky away, no. Don't' was originally 'Don't take my sky away. Please, no'. Then I realized that it was sort of possessive and it was leaning to R27. Don't get me wrong, I love R27. But, I'm still not sure whether their relationship should be parental, platonic, or romance. [Current me= Ended up as a parental/ platonic relationship]
> 
> Fun Fact= Kuro, Shiro and Sora can turn big or into an adult for a moment, similar the time when Uri was thrown into Garyuu's pouch and literally grew into a cheetah, yeah. Their combat form, well, probably there won't be any other than that. Damn. I'm still not sure...?
> 
> The title is stupid. Please excuse it. It just popped out of my brain out of nowhere.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	58. Battle Commence

"What are you spacing out for?" Tsuna blinked at the voice and looked around. And the Reborn promptly dropped onto his head. "You looked quite leisure, Tsuna. Feel like you already did what you need to?"

He groaned and rubbed his sore spot as Reborn jumped down and lied on the grass. Something in him twinge as he looked at Reborn properly. "What happened?" He asked as he lied back down as well. "Something I need to do."

"Something?"

"Give back the boss watch" It was like the world stopped for a second there. "Huh?!" He pushed himself up to look at Reborn properly. The hitman wasn't looking at him, however. "Like I said, give it back." His heart thumped against his rib cage. 'No, don't tell me you've given up, Reborn. No!'

"Wait a minute! What are you saying, Reborn? You said you would leave the watch to me."

"I've decided to pull out from the Rainbow Representative Battle." A sense of horror bubbled in him, slowly growing stronger. "What are you talking about?! If you lose the representative battle, you'll die, or end up like the Vindice, you know?!" He hated that thought. He hated that possibility. He hated how there was little to no chance for the Arcobaleno, if he hadn't thought of that idea. There was still 0.1 percent of success, and he wasn't going to throw that chance away.

"Ah well, that's probably what would happen." He saw red for a moment there. How could Reborn say like that as though his life does not matter, as though that even if the hitman die, there wouldn't be anything wrong. "Just what are you saying?! Well, you fell asleep in the middle, so I ended up not telling you, but I've been doing a lot of things in the mean time!"

"You discussed something with Talbot, and you asked the other teams for their assistance. Even accounting for all of that, I can't allow you to fight."

"But why?! Do you not believe in me?!" "That's not the problem" Reborn interjects, sorrow gnawed in him. "I'm saying that I can't send you out to a battle you absolutely cannot win."

He could see the anger rising in his student. He can see how he wanted him to take back everything. He himself wants to as well, but he meant that. He didn't want Tsuna to fight. He didn't want Tsuna to die. Yet he believed in Tsuna. He believed that Tsuna would win if he did. However, Jager and Bermuda made him doubt. He was afraid that they would kill his student if something went wrong.

He absolutely didn't want that.

"There's no way to know that until I try, right?!" "I told you already, this time I know." No, he doesn't.

"Enough!!" Out of nowhere, Tsuna's flame lit. How the flame flared had Reborn knowing that Tsuna wouldn't back down. He won't give up. On this fight. On this hope. And on Reborn. Those flames, it just seethed and raging, burning brightly that it almost hurt Reborn's eyes.

"If that's the case, try to take the boss watch away by force!"

Reborn tugged his fedora down, sighing. Tsuna somehow noticed that it was slightly bit shaky. "Are you thinking that you can beat me?" "I will!"

Tsuna clenched his fist and orange flame circled them, flaring and intense. The intensity and wind almost blew Reborn off. A sense of pride swelled in Reborn once again. "Hmph. Indeed, you've gotten stronger, Tsuna. However, Jager's strength and Bermuda's determination cannot be broken by something of this level. My mission is to make you into a splendid Vongola Decimo. There's no point if you die"

Tsuna couldn't believe it. Reborn still took it as a mission? That teaching and guiding him is still a mission? (No, it was no longer that case for Reborn. Definitely not.) He gritted his teeth, and scowled. "You're wrong. It's the opposite, Reborn." Reborn blinked in surprise.

"Vongola Primo would certainly say this as well. Someone that would abandon their friends cannot be entrusted with the fate of the Vongola." The flame grew hotter and more intense upon each word that fell out of his lips. "Someone unwilling to risk death for the sake of their friends, isn't qualified to be the Tenth Vongola!"

"Tsuna.."

"As if I'd lose! You tutored me, after all. The strength to risk death is the strength of determination!!" If Reborn were to say that Tsuna's anger from before was honestly horrifying in a sense, then he was dead wrong. He didn't think that anyone could be compared to Tsuna when it comes to this. His rage was practically bone chilling.

He clicked his tongue and held on to the ground. "Tch. Unfairly bringing out Primo's name like that.. I think you know this, but even these flames aren't worth a against Jager. However, I started to want to keep living, just a little bit. I wanted to die without regret whenever it happened, but I've gained a desire to see your growth a little bit more. So keep me alive, Tsuna."

Reborn said as he covered his eyes with his fedora, his voice going lower as he said. Tsuna was pleasantly surprised and glad. When the hitman flicked his fedora up, he could see the growing hope in those onxy black eyes. "I want to keep living."

Somehow, that had managed to extinguish his flames. "How about it? Can I count on you?" He smiled. "Of course. Of course you can!" He blinked at Reborn's genuine smile, of relief. And then a flying kick sent him flying back. "Don't make such a pathetic face! Alright, Tsuna. If you're going to do it, you're gonna win!"

"I will!"

(Tsuna felt as though he could fly at that moment. Then again, he really could fly.)

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi winced as he put on his shirt, careful not to do any more damage on his broken ribs. He huffed. He had healed pretty much, really. But the internal injuries was something out of his ability. Honestly, he hadn't really have much grip on his Sun and Sky flames as much as his Cloud flames. Probably because he had trained a lot using it, rather than the other two.

He could heal pretty much minor injuries and bruises, and the most was the wound from Jager's chain. But even that was only a little of the outer layer and stopping his blood from flowing non-stop, but since the wound was deep, it wasn't fully heal. Until Shiro somehow, as Dino had put, pump Sun flames into his body.

And he could only do so much with his Sky flame. He couldn't get how it really works. Like, he could feel it in him, he could somehow bring it out, but he hadn't use it other than the transparent shield, and the hurricane thing. And probably his Sight. He had no idea.

He sighed and strapped on his holster, careful of his ribs, before sheathing his gun and put on a black vest jacket to cover it. He gazed over at the battler's watch on the table, staring at it for a moment before putting it on. It felt heavier than usual for some reason. He shook his head and went downstairs to the kitchen, to find Yuuichi baking.

He tilted his head and sniffed as he went closer. "Chocolate truffles?" He asked as he peeked over his brother's shoulder. "Uwa!" He managed to grab ahold on the large bowl Yuuichi was holding from his back before it was tossed.

"Woah. Careful there" Yuuichi sighed in relief, before pouting and slapping the other's arm. "Don't scare me like that!" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at his brother's behavior. Usually he wouldn't even twitch when he sneak up behind him. He peered town at the melted chocolate and batter in the bowl, and to the baking tray.

"What? You're making it for someone?" Oh. Yuuichi blushed and turned away. "Not really" He muttered. Ryuuichi didn't really believe that and faked a sigh. "How nice... That person is very fortunate to taste Yuu's chocolate truffles.. I'm jealous"

He was honestly surprised when Yuuichi literally flipped. "I- That's not it! I was just- This is just a practice!" He fumbled with his words and his arms flailed after he placed the bowl down. "I- This-" He grumbled in frustration and ruffled his hair. Ryuuichi, amused, patted him on his shoulder as he resignedly told him the reason. "It's for the manager..."

"Manager? As in your team's manager?" Yuuichi nodded, a pout settled on his face.

"She's going to transfer to Tokyo soon. She helped us a lot, especially during training, so senpai and the others decided to dedicate something to her, and they decided that each person bring something sincere for her. I've no idea what to do so I.." He sighed. Ryuuichi's eyebrow arched again. "You have a crush on her, don't you?"

He was greatly amused once more when Yuuichi turned bright red and squeaked. "No!" He laughed. "Sure you don't. Then why would you try and bake when you, as you had said before, 'suck' at it?" He smirked.

"Ryuuuuu.." He snickered at that exasperated tone and picked up the ladle in the bowl and scoop some of the batter up, watching the batter flowing back into the bowl. He nodded. "It should be alright." "Really?" Yuuichi groaned. "Why can you determine if the batter is good or not when you can't even cook? Like, how the heck did you do it?"

Ryuuichi rolled his eyes, smiling. "Remember our home economy class in elementary school?" Yuuichi scrunched his nose and nodded. "Yeah. Not really a pleasant memory of us being covered in flour." The older chuckled, nodding. It wasn't pleasant, since they were forced to go home earlier than usual to get rid of the flour, tossed about because of a student starting a food fight, and the first thing they did was cover the twins in flour. Nice. Not.

"Well, do your best. I know you can do it." He ruffled Yuuichi's hair, much to the latter's annoyance. "I'll be going out now."

"Again?" He stopped short on his track and gave Yuuichi a confused look. "'Again'?" He didn't think that he had being going out that much. "Yeah. You've being in and out quite a lot of times. Especially the few times you suddenly stay over at Hibari's house. You didn't even messaged me!" He grimaced.

"Sorry. I was too.. Preoccupied" His brother frowned. Ryuuichi's words has too much double meaning. He didn't knew which one he meant. "If I didn't knew better, I would have thought that you and Hibari are dating or something."

Ryuuichi did a double take right there and then, almost falling to the ground. "W-what makes you think like that?" He was absolutely bewildered. He gave Yuuichi a disbelief look as the younger shrugged. "You two are quite close. The fact that Hibari allows you other than Kusakabe-san to stay over his house was simply too unbelievable. I'm not against it if you guys are, just tell me before hand or else I might hunt him down."

"Yuuichi!" The said teen smirked evilly. "Payback is sweet" Ryuuichi groaned at that, face slightly flushed. He hadn't thought of anything like that before, honestly. He did wonder why Hibari treat him slightly bit different that other people, but he felt that he was imagining. He was too focused on the current occurrences that he didn't even ponder over it. Did-

He cut his train of thoughts abruptly and pout at his brother who was crackling at his face. "Sheesh. Whatever, I'm going now."

(He would continue that later. For now, he had to face the creeps of the year)

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had perched himself on a tree, once again, as he and the others hid. They were waiting for the battle to start, plan devised properly. He was leaning against the tree, trying to feel the others' presence. 'They're really well trained for this kind of things.' He couldn't even feel a speck of their presence.

He sighed internally. He had said that he would participate, that he would help, but honestly, he hadn't had a single idea what he would do. He was, by no point of denying, the weakest among the bunch. He knew that well. The others were practically fighting maniac and had went through spartan-like training while he only had his knowledge on self defense that he had learned when he was younger. He managed it so far was out of mere luck, or at least that was what he thinks.

'I should get Reborn to train me or something...' He then paled a bit. 'Then again it might be a bad idea.'

"Beep!" He looked towards the fountain through the gaps between the leaves. Dino, Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto stood in the middle of the empty park as the dove flew away, Reborn on Tsuna's shoulder.

"1 minute until battle commences. The time limit this time is 90 minutes." A chill ran down his spine as a black portal appeared in front of the five. Bermuda and Jager appeared.

"Ah, Reborn-kun. I came to pick you up. Have you made preparation to join us?" The eagerness in Bermuda's voice was clear as daylight. "Sorry, Bermuda. I can't become your ally." Ryuuichi smiled at that. He felt so satisfied to see the moments where Bermuda was constantly denied.

"Eh? This is a surprise. You know what this means, right?"

"We won't let your team win, Bermuda. So there's no need for you to worry." "We won't let Reborn and the others get killed either."

"Well well. Even though I told you that no matter what, there was no way for Reborn and the others to stay alive... Or could it be that you've come across some secret method of keeping the current Arcobaleno alive?" Bermuda questioned. "Well, whatever. I have no need for weak allies that would cling to life like this. This is goodbye, Reborn-kun. I'm counting on you, Jager"

Tsuna, Dino, Gokudera and Yamamoto readied themselves as Bermuda floated off Jager's shoulder. "Battle start"

Ryuuichi blinked and held back a sigh. This would be the last fight before he would have to tell the truth. (He somehow dread, yet awaits for it)

\-----------------------------------------------------

_The grass and dried leaves crunched under his boots as he walked deeper into the thick forest. White mist formed as he breathed, hands in his pocket as he tried to keep himself warm from the cold weather. His jacket tightly wrapped against his lean frame as his thick black scarf swayed along with his steps. He ignored the ominous presence that has being following him and continued on forward._

_It was until he came across a frozen water fall did he stopped. The moonlight shone brightly, reflecting against the ice._

_He looked up to the night sky and spoke. "I hope you reveal yourself soon, mysterious person." Just as he said that, the presence disappeared. He chuckled and shook his head. "Ah." He put out his hands and smiled. Snowflakes after another started falling, some softly landing on his hands and cheeks as he watched._

_"I should head back soon."_

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi shot Jager before the bandaged man managed to chop of Xanxus's arm. Dark yet resonating Cloud flames scrapped Jager's arm as he quickly jumped back. Ryuuichi's eyes were hard on the man. "This isn't for you, Xanxus." Jager, in seconds, warped out of his sight and appeared right in front of him

"Ryuuichi!" He clicked his tongue, knowing that he wouldn't have enough time to dodge Jager's attacks, but at least Xanxus and Squalo wouldn't lose a limb or an organ. "Have you not learn your lesson, Historian?" Jager grabbed him by his throat and choked him. He gasped for air, feeling his feet dangling as he was lifted.

He managed to scoff and smirked. "Don't underestimate me." He grunted out. Jager's arm that was scraped started burning, flaring brightly in purple. "My flames are  _quite_  flammable." Jager clicked his tongue and throw him back. He groaned as he rolled on the ground, hitting a tree.

He blinked, losing his sight for a second there. He coughed, hands on his ribs. The two previously broken ribs somehow ached. After a few moments, he could finally see, and the first thing he saw was Xanxus shooting Jager who immediately dodge, but the flame on him indicated his direction of moments as he warped. "This isn't for you either, trash" The man gritted out, annoyed that he was helped by a brat.

Said brat laughed breathlessly. He rubbed his throat, feeling a bruise forming. Jager had held back the moment he choke him, or he would have crushed Ryuuichi's throat in mere seconds. He swallowed at the thought and huffed. Jager stopped for a moment there, flames somehow already put out, before he warped again. Mukuro when into work and steel barrier formed behind all of them.

It managed to stop Jager so much as he warped his hands, stabbing into Byakuran. Ryuuichi winced at that, but knew that Byakuran wouldn't die of that. Then again he might be a bit biased. Everyone was shocked for a moment, before Xanxus shoot Jager.

The man warped again, only to appear by Xanxus's side and his chain scrapped his knees. Squalo then proceeded to help, which ended up with him injured. Ryuuichi cursed, totally forgetting that there was more. 'Crap. Stupid me.'

 _"If they're fated for it, no matter how you interfere, the result will always be the same."_  (No thank you for that, Caelum)

It was then Verde decided to step in. Did Ryuuichi mentioned that Verde looked like an old man with stubble in his adult form? Then again, he is an old man. (He meant no offense, though) "Spanner, fire!" The said teen immediately launched a giant green mosca and Verde jumped into it.

The machine managed to detect heat signatures and fired laser. It was avail as Jager came out unscratched. (It brought them quite a lot of time, though) Jager warped both his arms and chopped the mosca's arms off. "Disappear, trash" The head of the mosca was chopped off as well and it dropped into the fountain. Verde came out, cursing.

"I'll let you live. I'm not here to kill the Arcobaleno." "You damn zombie!" Bermuda landed on Jager's shoulder once again. "Onto the next one. Their final turn is coming up"

Ryuuichi wobbly stood up as Jager warped and attacked Mukuro again. He stabbed Mukuro successfully breaking his trident. "Too shallow, huh." He was about to stab the teen again when Dino's whip curling tightly around his arm. He was unfazed as he warped again, slashing Dino. The arm was left behind, before it disappeared as well and stabbed Dino on the shoulder.

At the same time, Ryuuichi pulled Dino back and a rather familiar looking chain hit the arm. Dino and Ryuuichi landed in a heap, as the younger quickly summoned his Sun flames. The least he could to was to try and heal Dino. "I've paid my debt." He smiled exasperatedly at Hibari. The prefect seriously doesn't like to own a favor, huh. Then again, the others was the same.

"Why, if it isn't the strongest boy from the Tenth's family."

Wordlessly, Hibari whipped his tonfa, ignoring those words. The chain headed towards Jager and everyone thought that he would warp, but he didn't. Instead, he blocked the attack and jumped back.

Right after a clear range was created, Bermuda floated back onto his shoulder. Ryuuichi wondered if he was getting anemia from all this as he gripped onto his Sun flame securely, summoning more. "Are you alright?" He asked. Concern laced heavily in his voice.

A weak nod and smile was given to him. "Yeah" They looked back at the fight once more as Hibari's purple spike balls headed over to Jager, growing larger and larger. It helped by blocking all of them from Jager's sight, for he had attacked a puppet of Hibari. Hibari and Mukuro worked in sync, despite not getting along at all, quoted from Reborn.

Hibari appeared behind Jager and swung his tonfa again, chain shooting towards Jager, only to find the man warped. Their eyes widen in surprise as Jager appeared behind Hibari. It was too late for him to dodge.

Ryuuichi's heart beat loudly at the thought of Hibari getting injured, or worse, die. "Hibari!" "Kyouya!"

A flaming fist sent Jager's back. A certain brunette gritted his teeth. "How dare you!" His flames flared wildly. Almost everyone there shivered at his rage. "Jager!!"

(Ryuuichi was relief. So relief that Tsuna finally arrived and Hibari was alright.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehh, the ending was a bit, weird...? I don't know what happened there. Chapter 393- 400.
> 
> Okay. The next chapter will be the last of the Curse of the Rainbow Arc. And Ryuuichi explaining to them all would probably be in another.
> 
> Don't worry! There's another two Arc! Details will be revealed in the next chapter!
> 
> The first part was too awesome to skip so there ya go.
> 
> Fun Fact= Fufu, Ryuuichi is finally realizing somethings.
> 
> Fun Fact= Even though Yuuichi could cook, he is really really bad a baking.
> 
> Umm, I think it was mentioned before that even though Ryuuichi's main attribute was Sky, his Cloud flame still holds a strong power? Yeah. He lacks of experience and training on it. *nods*
> 
> The italic part was of Caelum. I think that was quite obvious? No? And that ominous presence was of course, Bermuda. Damn stalker. [They hadn't met for the first time, but Caelum knew that he was being stalked]
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	59. Last Battle

Ryuuichi was in awe. He was honestly amazed. He knew that Tsuna would be very awesome at this point, but seeing it with his own two eyes was just astonishing. The brunette, after shouting at them to take care of those who had fallen, flew towards Jager and punched the man continuously. A crater was made from the impact. It was only when Jager punched him in return did he flew back.

"Again, Jager didn't use short warp." Reborn commented. Tsuna blinked. "Now that you mention it..."

"I was just careless." He noticed that Jager was panting as the man pushed himself up. Small Gia was panting as well. 'What does this mean?' Bermuda then came floating down to Jager's shoulder. "My my, the rats are coming to bite one after another, huh. I'm just a little impressed.

"But we will put an end to it soon. There aren't any people left to help. Finish it in one breath, Jager." Tsuna's eyes were wide as he took note that once Bermuda settled on Jager's shoulder, his ragged breathing settled down. "Yeah" He was alarmed immediately. It was like the man had fully recovered in mere seconds.

Then it hit him. "It can't be!" Reborn looked up at Tsuna in confusion. Tsuna's eyes were filled with realization and that was when Reborn knew that the brunette knew something. Bermuda floated off Jager's shoulder, claiming that it was the end.

In flash, Jager short warped and appeared behind Tsuna. Tsuna was taken in surprise that he hadn't had much time to react. The man was going for the blow when a steel shield appeared behind Tsuna. "Rokudo?!" Something pulled Jager back, foreign words forming circle around him.

"Tsuna-kun! Get away!" Enma shouted. In anger, Jager cursed out and short warped to the red head, Fran and Chrome. Even with Tsuna's warning, they didn't managed to dodge his attack.

Two chains interfered and pushed him away from the trio as he blocked it. They realized that he didn't short warp once again. "Did you realize something, Tsuna?! Explain to me!" Reborn yelled in hurry.

"The Vindice store the flame energy given to them by Bermuda to fight! Bermuda lands on Jager's shoulder so frequently because he is replenishing his flame energy!" Bermuda and Jager clicked their tongue. They secret was out. Well, not so secret. Seeing that Bermuda was the one who founded the eighth flames and not the rest of the Vindice, it was quite logical. If it wasn't for Bermuda, they would've died long time ago.

Tsuna flew down as he explained. "The Vindice that had finished fighting couldn't catch their breath even if they rested. Jager's the same after warping. Its because they can't create their own flames. Bermuda probably keep landing on Jager's shoulder because using short warp requires an enormous amount of flame energy."

Ryuuichi frowned at that. He was still on the ground, sitting. Dino had being brought to the hospital by Gamma and Yuni and he stayed. His fingers twitched, feeling Dino's blood drying. He knew of that, obviously, and the thought of the current Arcobaleno constantly requires Bermuda's flame to live, if things didn't go the way he knew, was absolutely absurd. Even the Arcobaleno hated that.

"No good, Bermuda-san!" Onomichi popped out of the bushes just as Bermuda landed on Jager's shoulder for the nth time. "Please move away! Even if you're the Arcobaleno of a team participating in the battle, if you have not release your curse, you're still interfering! Any further contact will be seen as an attempt to supply energy and prohibited as interference! If you do it again, you'll be disqualified!"

Ryuuichi sweated at that exaggerated movements from that strange man, but refocused his attention on the fight again as Jager moved. He short warped once again and appeared behind Tsuna. (Ryuuichi was starting to believe that he likes these kind of low attack by strike from the back) Hibari and Mukuro both defended the brunette. Their trident and chain clashed with his arm.

"Are you only able to sneak around behind our backs?" "Too obvious. He must be worried."

"You're prattling" Jager short warped again and appeared from above. He struck the two on their shoulders as Ryuuichi jerked. "You guys!"

Mukuro grimaced as he started his illusion, sealing Jager's hands on their shoulder. "Judging from the battle so far, it seems to whole-body short warps is his limit. As if I'll let him get away! I'll seal him together with us."

Ryuuichi frowned in concern. It was clear that both Hibari and Mukuro were at their limit. Mukuro had being in pain as far as he could see since the first attack from Jager. The teen probably haven't heal from the previous attack. Hibari, on the other hand, looked better than Mukuro, but Ryuuichi knew that the prefect wouldn't cope it any longer.

"Bite him to death, you little animal."

"Tsuna-kun! Use the Shimon Ring too!" Enma threw his ring to the brunette. Tsuna caught it and wore it with his ring. He focused his flames and the flame of Gravity to use X-Burner. He shot, and created a gaping hole on Jager. The seal broke as Jager flew over. Soon after, Hibari and Mukuro fell as well. "He won't die from that! Finish Jager off!"

"I will not let you" Bermuda interfered just as Tsuna was about to did as told. "Now that I've come this far, I won't let the likes of you to get in my way. Present please!"

Ryuuichi held in his breath as Bermuda grew into his adult form.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Did Ryuuichi mentioned that Bermuda looked like a lizard somehow? Did he? No offense to him, but honestly, Bermuda looked absolutely  _weird_. Not to mention the Night flame that was flaring off his arms. Ryuuichi huffed, tensed. "Let's clean up a bit." He scowled when Bermuda short warped in split seconds and appeared beside the others, crushing their battler's watch one by one. He jumped when Bermuda appeared beside him and crushed his as well. Their eyes met for a moment before Bermuda disappeared and appeared behind Tsuna.

(Ryuuichi wanted to punch him in the face for scaring him.)

"Alright. Now you can't borrow aid from anyone. I can relax and fight you now. Well, I said that but it'll be over in about ten seconds"

He twitched in annoyance at the arrogance, but Bermuda was right. He could simply eliminate them all in a blink of an eye. But then, they have  _Tsuna_. Ryuuichi still wants to sock him though.

Tsuna couldn't read Bermuda's movement at all. He was too fast that his eyes couldn't catch up. He clenched his fist. "I can short warp without limit. I have no weaknesses. It's execution time, Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun." Bermuda short warped and appeared behind Tsuna again. The brunette quickly moved, dodging a round house kick just in time. Bermuda's hand aimed at his head and it managed to scrapped his cheek as he dodged once again.

"Nicely dodged. Is this the hyper intuition of the Vongola? But you're one tempo slow" Bermuda appeared behind Tsuna again and punched him. This time, Tsuna hadn't had the chance to dodge. A knee aimed at Tsuna sent him flying back. "Time to end it" Bermuda appeared inches in front of Tsuna's face and was about to kill, when a loud bang made him short warp again to dodge an incoming bullet.

"Chaos" (Ryuuichi, out of nowhere, took out his silenced phone and took a picture)

Tsuna landed on the ground, kneeling. "You again.. Just who are you?" "I'm an old friend of Reborn's. I told Checkerface it was no good otherwise and he let me onto the team. Ryuuichi scoffed at that. Honestly, why couldn't Tsuna just see through that. It was so damn  _obvious_.

He looked towards Verde and saw a rather stiff Reborn standing beside the Lightning Arcobaleno. 'Of course he looked stiff. That was a doll.'

"Fufu.. How interesting. I'll also take you to be Reborn's friend." "My thanks, Bermuda"

"It's fine. I'll have you vanish soon enough, after all."

"Just try it"

(Ryuuichi wanted to face palm at the conversation between those two arrogant men)

Bermuda warped again and attacked. Reborn swiftly dodged each and one of the attacks with ease, reading his movements as he go. He's the World's Strongest Hitman after all, with capitals. But then, Bermuda's attacks started to hit. "Your appearance was meaningless" Reborn dodged the last two attack and took out his gun.

"I wonder about that. My goal is this shot." He took a bullet out and placed it into the cartridge. He clicked it in place. "As long as this shot hits, it's fine" Oh come one. It would definitely hit. It wasn't as if Reborn was any lesser man. "Got you." Reborn aimed at Bermuda's face.

"Come die at once" Tsuna's eyes widen at the words as he shot. Bermuda, as expected, dodged the bullet and short warped behind the hitman. However, the bullet wasn't for Bermuda. It was for Tsuna. The bullet curved and headed towards the brunette.

Tsuna didn't dodge, seeing Reborn's silhouette at the man's words. He knew it was the dying will bullet. 'Go, Tsuna.' Reborn smirked. 'Everything I want to pass down to you is in there'

The shot hit Tsuna right on the forehead.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Reborn's usual smirked was on his face. Ryuuichi could see that. He smiled upon that and shook his head. Reborn sure does thing in a flashy way. "Fu.. That was a dying will bullet just now, wasn't it. If so, he's still alive" Bermuda short warped and appeared on top of the fallen brunette.

He was about to stab him right through the heart when a hand shot out from the body, grabbing him. The mere strength gripping on his arms had him back away. Tsuna stood up from what seemed like a cocoon that reminded Ryuuichi of a snake shedding skin.

"Reborn!" Ryuuichi blinked. He hadn't heard that for a while now. "I'll defeat you like my heart depends on it!" Tsuna declared, pointing at Bermuda. Just as he did, his Vongola gear crumbled into pieces. He had removed his Vongola Gear. Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei watched in disbelief, wondering why did he did that.

Light and conscious regained in Tsuna's eyes, flashing in orange. Strong, intense Sky flames flared off his whole body, burning hot and bright. "All my cells have prepared for death in order to defeat you." His voice was calm in contrary to his raging flames. The pinnacle of dying will. It sounded strange, but it happened.

"Right now, I'm in the same state that you were in when you created the flame of the eighth attribute." Bermuda looked alarmed. "Right?"

".. That's right. In the depths of my despair, I became an avatar of vengeance directed at Checkerface. When pure dying will took over my body, without a hint of hesitation, the 'Flame of Night' was born."

Tsuna's flame had not subsided as he countered that. "My apologies. It's not the same. My dying will isn't born of despair. It's born from hope."

Ryuuichi tilted his head, realizing something. Now that he think about it. Bermuda was like the Night where darkness rule and Tsuna was like the Day where light took over all. Like Bermuda was all the negativity while Tsuna was practically the opposite of him. How intriguing. In rage, Bermuda rushed and short warped behind Tsuna again, only to met a fist in his face.

"What?!" He short warped again, but was faced with another fist. "Why?!"

"Just only one reason" Nope. Ryuuichi did not just squealed at that. "This is my dying will"

"Don't get carried away!" Each attack from Bermuda was blocked. All of them. Tsuna looked absolutely unfazed by that as he stood on his ground, steadily countered. Bermuda on the other hand, started to panic. "I've no choice! I'll bury you with my one hundred percent sure-kill final technique!"

He let off a great amount of Night flame. "Die!" Pitch black portals appeared, circled Tsuna. "I'll make you vanish with my Night flame!" He started jumping into each portal again and again until they could only see blurs. His speed was far too fast for their eyes to catch up.

And then he appeared from above. Shooting down directly at Tsuna. He came down so fast that he didn't manage to dodge the fist on his face and was sent propelling into the air. Bermuda frowned. The brunette didn't had the intention to kill him. It made him wonder, for all the people he had faced wanted to kill him. He had never encounter anyone who doesn't want to kill him. A part of him relented.

'It's my total defeat, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Or rather, Reborn.'

Jager yelled in surprise, despair that his master had fallen. Tsuna did not answer him, but merely destroyed his boss watch. Ryuuichi slowly raised his hands and silently clapped.

A soft, tired smile was plastered on his face. It was finally over. The fighting. After  _so_ long. "Team Reborn is victorious!" Despite that, none of them were celebrating. Tsuna had immediately ask of those injured's condition as Ryuuichi stood up slowly, dizzy for a moment.

"Congratulations! Reborn-san, the Arcobaleno of the winning team, will be able to have his curse removed!" Tsuna's eyes were blazing as he turned to face Onomichi. "Don't lie, Onomichi. The true purpose of the Arcobaleno battle is to dispose of the current Arcobaleno, taking away their lives, and selecting the next generation of the Arcobaleno to protect the pacifiers, isn't it?"

The said man looked confused, when Checkerface appeared. "You can't blame him. Onomichi really doesn't know anything." The iron-masked man shifted his head slightly to Ryuuichi and tilted his head. Ryuuichi grunted, rolling his eyes, his hands clenched into fist. He  _really_  hates masks. And he wanted to punch Checkerface.

'Oh well' He sighed. Checkerface was amused of his reaction, but he turned back to the others. "It looks like Bermuda-kun has told you guys about the secrets of the Arcobaleno and the pacifiers. It looks like you've been fed quite a few nasty stories."

"It's all true!" Ryuuichi was caught in exasperation and amusement as Tsuna, Bermuda and Checkerface argued. Or more like Bermuda was arguing. He blinked when he caught sight of Talbot and another man walking to their direction. The others doesn't seemed to noticed them when Checkerface explained of his kind. He tilted his head at the other man. 'Is that Nono's guardian?'

"Checkerface, will you give this a try before making the next Arcobaleno?"

"And what's that?"

"A device to take the place of the pacifiers. If you use this, the pacifiers will never be needed again." Okay, Ryuuichi couldn't deny that he felt something akin to satisfaction when Checkerface was taken aback. Talbot then proceeded to explain the whole thing, which Ryuuichi kind of had tuned out a moment there. At first, Checkerface refused to let Bermuda to take in charge of the Pacifiers since that device needed the eighth flame.

It was only when Yuni said that there's a future for the pacifier, did he accepted it. Quite easily, they would say. Too easy. "In order to protect this planet, I've never deviated from the belief that small sacrifices are necessary to prevent greater ones and performed my duty until now, hiding this shameful face behind a mask. But I've always thought that if there was a better way to maintain the Tri-Ni-Sette, then by all means I should do it, and entrust it to the next generation."

Ryuuichi smiled. Honestly, Kawahira sounded like a old man. Then again, he really is. 'Once an old man, always an old man' He snickered internally at his own thought, but lent a hand. They all formed a circle around the device and readied themselves, grabbing their flames from their core.

Ryuuichi took deep breath and released a great amount of flame, mixing it with the others' in a colorful rainbow. All the flames absorbed into the devices. He couldn't stop smiling, even as he felt his energy draining further.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

"Honestly, why were you guys fighting just because of stupid stuffs?" Ryuuichi grumbled as he dragged Hibari off to another room, Hibirds fluttering about around them. The nurses and doctors they passed by looked so horrified despite the comical scene. 

He, annoyed, wondered why was he doing this when he remembered. He had visited them all, coming earlier than Tsuna and the others. 

The first person he had visited was Dino, bonking him on the head for being so careless. Though, he was very glad that the blonde was alright. And then, a loud explosion made him jump out of the chair he was sitting. He literally slapped himself in the face and groaned. He then practically tore the fighting maniacs apart and dragged the prefect away, giving all of them a stink eye for destroying the hospital.

'Whoever put them in the same hospital and on the same floor made a really  _ **bad**_  mistake.' He huffed in annoyance. Then again, it wasn't as though it would be his problem.

When they reached the furthest end of the floor, he pulled Hibari into the empty ward and closed the door shut, minding that he didn't accidentally shut the door on one of the yellow birds. He blinked in surprise when he realized that two of them situated themselves on his head. He sighed, but paid not much heed to them.

"Go rest. Shoo shoo." He waved his hand at Hibari, gesturing him to the bed. The others didn't know, but the prefect had a fever a few hours after admitting into the hospital. It made him wonder how did he managed to fight in this kind of condition. He was practically burning up!

Hibari was amused, enough said. It wasn't everyday that someone would interfere a fight, especially his fight, by pushing all of them aside and gave them an annoyed, yet pouty look. It certainly wasn't everyday to see the others and he himself stopped at merely just his look alone. Hibari had half expected them to blow at Ryuuichi, if they weren't so frozen in shock. (Most of them, especially Xanxus, hadn't came across someone else other than Tsuna in his Hyper Dying Will Mode who dared to stop their fight without wanting a death wish)

Ryuuichi groaned at the Hibari's smirk and pushed the man onto the bed before settling on the chair. "Seriously, what's with you guys and fighting in this kind of condition?" He grumbled under his breath. "Damn fighting maniacs- Ouch!" Hibari flicked him on his forehead suddenly. His hands shot up on instinct and covered that sore spot.

"What the heck?" He frowned.

"You're an idiot" "Hah?!" Hibari's smirk widen. He all but ignored the irritated tone and lied down on the bed. "Move and I'll bite you to death"

Ryuuichi twitched at that. 'Can.. Can I punch him?' He then sighed inaudibly and settled back onto the chair. A small smile crept onto his face. 'Oh well. At least it's over.'

His smile fell. 'How the hell am I going to tell them..?'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 401 TO THE END! Finally! The last Arc ended! I'm so happy yet so sadddd
> 
> The next chapter will be where Ryuuichi explains things to all of them! The ones confirmed who will appear are Yuuichi, Sakura, Kei, Tsuna and the others (minus Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta), Dino, Yuni, Reborn and Enma. Who else do you guys things should appear? Their presence would be mentioned but what they did would probably not be elaborated.
> 
> After the next chapter, there would be two more arc! The next arc, well, I haven't decide on a name yet but let's go with Trapped Arc? This arc was mainly focused on Ryuuichi, Yuuichi, Hibari, and the others, of course. Guess who will be appearing as well~ There's no estimation of how many chapters this arc will last, so we'll just have to see.
> 
> The last Arc, however, is a secret. I wouldn't really say it's an arc of the story, but who cares. XP Sorry, but my lips, or in this case, words, are sealed tight about it! I won't give hints! Details will be revealed in the last chapter of Trapped Arc! Probably. XDD
> 
> Well, this chapter is honestly a bit boring, I would say. But I seriously had fun writing it. I mean, I think this is the first time I wrote a fight scene with until this point? And practically the whole chapter is the fight scene. Sorry if it's weird because I honestly find it hard to describe.
> 
> Do you guys know that the word 'warp' appeared 19 times?! Including this one!? I'm like, so annoyed for various of reasons. *flails hands around*
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi fell asleep soon after he made himself comfortable on the chair. And Hibari was like, not even sleeping. Lol. And Hibird constantly chirped here and there, settling themselves on Ryuuichi's head and shoulders. Hibari was damn amused, enough said. 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	60. Secret

Ryuuichi's eyes snapped open suddenly. He blinked, trying to focus his sight on the shelves by the wall. His eyes shifted to the window and then the digital clock. It was already eight in the morning. If he didn't knew that it was a weekend today, he would definitely had jumped out of his bed in split seconds.

He pushed himself up, his blanket slid down to his lap. His shirt had rode up from all the shifting he had done in his sleep and his hair was a mess. He looked around his room once and yawned.

'Oh right...' He reached over to the night stand and grabbed around for his phone. He looked through his message log and sighed. Locking it up, he toss his phone onto the bed, grabbed a change of clothing from the wardrobe and went to the toilet. He almost hit himself on the door during the process. (He did stubbed his toe, however. He so do not need that kind of wake up call)

He bit his lower lips and took a deep breath. He walked downstairs and into the kitchen, the smell of coffee waking him up more. He stood by the door, watching as Sakura bustled around, making breakfast for them while Yuuichi helped and Kei laughing at some kind of joke that had being told. The atmosphere looked so light, so warm. Ryuuichi didn't have the heart to break it but he had to.

Kei blinked, noticing his eldest son's presence. "Good morning, Ryuu." He smiled, but it faltered when he saw the hesitation in the teen. Sakura and Yuuichi's voice soon followed after his as Ryuuichi greeted them back, smiling softly. He moved from his spot on the counter that he was leaning against and went to Ryuuichi's side. "Come on, let's have breakfast together"

He knew that his wife and youngest son noticed something was wrong with Ryuuichi as well, but they said and did nothing other than a small frown of concern. They need him to open up himself.

Ryuuichi nodded and let himself being pulled to the dining table. He sat down just as his mother set a cup of tea in front of him. He thanked her, to which she smiled in respond. Ryuuichi stayed silent soon after. He was debating on how to begin, somehow managed to berate himself in the process. They could see his turmoil, but patiently waited.

'Oh screw this.' "Umm.." They perked up immediately. "Can.. Can we all talk?" Nodding, they took their seat on the chairs. "Of course."

Ryuuichi clenched his hands and released it, only to clench it again. "Right... First of all, there will be guests later." He started slowly. "And, I'm sorry, Mother, Father. But I think it's time to tell the truth." Sakura and Kei turned solemn, nervous even. Yuuichi frowned at that, not understanding a single thing. "What truth?"

None of them answered him as he demanded again. "What have you guys being hiding from me? Ryuuichi?"

"Yuuichi.." He turned to his father and mother, who both sat in front of them. "We.. Your mother and I have something to tell you." His father wasn't looking at him. Why wasn't he looking at him? Yuuichi wanted to scream at them to just tell and stop the suspence when Sakura continued.

"We are mafiosi, Yuuichi." His eyes widen so large, almost as though it was going to bulge out. "W-what? What are you talking about?"

"We're freelance assassins." That had his mind swirling. He never thought that his parents are members of the mafia, let alone killers. He just couldn't. The thought of them ending one's life just doesn't sit well. 'No...' He clutched his temple, trying to deny everything. He was waiting for one of them to yell that it was all a joke. He wanted all this to be a joke, but deep down, he knew that it wasn't.

"You.. You knew?" He asked Ryuuichi. He scowled harder when his brother nodded as well. "Then you're in it as well?!"

Ryuuichi could literally feel the rage emitting from his brother. He knew that he would be angry. Like, who wouldn't? He didn't condemn him for that though. After all, Yuuichi had all the right to be angry at them, more so on him. He looked into Yuuichi's eyes. "Yes." Suddenly, Yuuichi grabbed his collar and pulled him up, his chair pushed back. Kei and Sakura was alarmed as they tried to stop their youngest son, but was stopped by one look from Ryuuichi.

"And you never told me?! Why?!" Ryuuichi looked at him calmly. His hands gently touched Yuuichi's. "Because it wasn't the time to." Yuuichi gritted his teeth, calming down more. He slowly lowered his hands. He muttered an apology and Ryuuichi squeezed his hands in return.

"I'll explain." Ryuuichi waited for Yuuichi to settle back down on his chair before continuing. "Mother and Father have been in the mafia before we are born. I, on the other hand, joined after Tsuna's tutor, Reborn, came." He ruffled his hair slightly. "About mother and father, I just knew that recently-"

"Wait. Does that mean Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto are in the mafia as well?" Ryuuichi nodded. "Yes. I'm sure you briefly knows how mafia works, no? Well, Tsuna is the last living heir of one of the biggest famiglia named Vongola. Gokudera, Yamamoto, Hibari, Ryohei, Chrome Dokuro, Rokudo Mukuro and Lambo are his Guardians. Kozato Enma and the other transfer students from Shimon Middle are in the mafia as well, the Shimon Familgia with Enma as the boss.

"Mother and father are in the Cavallone Famiglia, runs by the current boss, Dino. And.. Dino's our distant cousin" If it was any other situation, he would had laughed out loud at the facial expression Yuuichi had. He then proceeded to explain that his disappearance was all because of the mafia, with him spectating. He explained everything that popped out of his mind and the Tri-Ni-Sette. He had somehow managed to confused himself in the process and was about to repeat when Yuuichi stopped him.

"What about you?" He blinked in surprise. "You mentioned about everything and everyone, but what about you?"

"I.. I'm the Historian. Simply to say, I record things I see. Umm.." He then tried to make it as simple as possible, finding it hard to do so. When he finished, he waited for Yuuichi's respond. His brother's eyes were shadowed by his bangs, making it impossible for Ryuuichi to know whether he was angry, or too surprised.

"Yuu-!" He groaned and curled into a ball when Yuuichi suddenly punched him in the guts. Kei and Sakura, who had being silently listened to Ryuuichi's explanation, was surprised and with wide eyes, they stood up. Kei was about to move to Ryuuichi's side when Yuuichi spoke.

"Never.." Ryuuichi looked up, wincing at the pain. "Never hide things from me again." He blinked when he noticed tear drops flowing down his brother's cheeks. He bit his inner cheeks and released a shaky breath. "You're not.. Angry at us?"

"Of course I am!" Yuuichi yelled. "But I'm angry because you guys hid such a big thing from me!" Ryuuichi huffed out a small laugh of relief. He reached up and tugged Yuuichi into a tight embrace. "Sorry.." He said softly it as he felt his shirt getting wet. "Sorry.." He felt two more pairs of arms wrapped around them tightly. He noticed that his mother was crying as well and placed a hand on her's.

He was getting uncomfortable on the chair that felt like it was going to break under the weight any time soon, but he did not move. He stayed at that position along with his family, basking in the comfort and love as the wounds and cracks that were created slowly healed.

\------------------------------------------------------------

A particularly loud sigh erupted from Ryuuichi's lips as he rubbed his temple. It was so noisy. Oh so noisy that he almost wanted to burn all of them up. And then there was a crash. He exploded. " **Stop** " All of them froze stiff and sat down on their respective places at that tone. They're all in the living room, with the twins, along with the guests, on the ground and his parents on the sofa. 

He sighed again. "Before anything.. Can I ask why are  _you_  guys here? I didn't remember inviting you." He looked pointedly at a certain Marshmallow Freak and a Hibari lookalike. He didn't meant to sound harsh, but he was already annoyed enough that the first thing Mukuro and Hibari did after arriving at his house at the same time, was initiate a bloody fight. (They ended up with a bruised cheek)

"How mean! I'm simply curious after all" He rolled his eyes at the whine. "I apologize for intruding, but yes. I'm curious as well" He sighed at that and shrugged.

He turned to Yuuichi, who was frowning at all of them and introduced them to him. "Yuuichi. You may know most of them but..." He gestured to Tsuna first. "The Vongola Tenth, or now the Neo Vongola Primo" Tsuna gawked. "H-how did you know?!" He sighed. "I'll explain later." He gestured to briefly to Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei, Hibari, Chrome and Mukuro. He mentioned to their post as Tsuna's Guardian, introducing Mukuro whom Yuuichi had never met before to him.

At each second, they looked at him with a bewildered look as he continued. "Dino, the Cavallone Tenth." The said man looked absolutely taken aback. "Enma, the Shimon Tenth." Ryuuichi was very relief that the red head's guardians didn't decide to tag along, or he might just ended up committing homicide. He gestured to Reborn and Fon. "Reborn, the World's Strongest Hitman and Fon, the strongest Martial Artist. Both are one of the Ex-Arcobaleno"

He gestured to Shoichi and Spanner. "Irie Shoichi and Spanner," Both nodded at him, but was confused and scared somehow. "The mechanics during the whole mayhem." He turned to Byakuran and huffed. "Byakuran. The boss of Gesso Family. Yuni, the boss of Giglio Nero Family and also one of the Ex-Arcobaleno." Yuni smiled. She knew why Ryuuichi was doing this and had supported his decision, which Ryuuichi was forever grateful for.

"Kyoko and Haru. Both whom only knew of the mafia recently." The girls smiled at him.

Yuuichi nodded slowly. He squeezed Ryuuichi's hands as the Ryuuichi spoke once again. "Thank you for coming and, I apologize in advance for bothering all of you" Ryuuichi struggled a moment, when Dino suddenly erupted. "Whoah wait-! Why are you-" He gave the blonde an exasperated look. "I decided to say, obviously."

He smiled softly and shook his head at Dino's flailing, actually grateful for the interruption. "Ryuuichi" He looked towards Reborn. "You've something to say, don't you?"

"Ah. Yeah. Right." He shifted his fingers. "I bet all of you wondered why I knew of things and what would happen, right?" A collective hum of confirmation was heard and Ryuuichi could practically feel his parent's stare boring holes behind his head. (They didn't know anything about the shenanigans he went through other than a brief explanation to them and Yuuichi) "The thing is... Well... I have my previous life's memories..?"

Silence fell as he panicked. "I- Well, Umm-" He gulped. "It's true, I've my past life's memories. And you guys are actually not real in my past life...?" Cue chaos. All of them couldn't really accept the last sentence. Like, they're there, real, in flesh and blood. Why wouldn't they be real?!

A gun shot was heard and everyone immediately shut up. "Quiet." Reborn menacingly said. "Explain more clearer." He turned to Ryuuichi. Honestly, he didn't believe it at first, but he knew Ryuuichi wasn't one to lie. Especially about this kind of things.

"Thanks" Ryuuichi breathed out. "Um. So. In my previous world, all of you are anime characters. So basically, you guys aren't real there. And another fact. Namimori doesn't exist on the map of Japan in my previous world. It was unbelievable, I know. But it's true. It's kind of similar to how parallel worlds work..? There are many dimensions. This has something to do with the Historian, actually.

"All the Historians since the First are of the same soul. They transfer into a new vessel in this dimension, after their previous one dies. I don't have the memories of the First and the previous Historian though! Um.. So when it was my turn, according to the First, something went wrong? He himself didn't knew why as well.

"And I lived in my previous world for sixteen years before my soul could be transferred here. Well, you get my drift. I watched you guys, on TV, you guys as anime characters where the whole thing started off right on the day Reborn arrived here to tutor Tsuna, until the end of the Curse of the Rainbow. And that's... How I knew of things?"

Yuuichi was frowning. Ryuuichi had explained to him of the battles and all, but there was still a few things he couldn't understand. "So you mean you knew of our family stuff? Then why you-" He stopped when Ryuuichi shook his head vigorously. "No no. I don't. My interference, you, our family, none of this are in it. I don't even know what was our situation." Ah. That explained everything. Not.

Ryuuichi sighed. "Which is why I never dared to interfere on things. I was afraid that things would go the way I don't know. Until I finally know the truth from Caelum. I.. I'm sorry for hiding things from you guys" He had his head bowed down. He was scared of their reaction now that they knew he could actually prevent things from happening. That he could prevent the happening of a lot of things. If they wanted to be angry at him for it, he didn't mind. They had all the rights to be.

Even if they wanted him to leave, or them leaving him.

"God, you're an idiot." A fist bonk his head. He blinked in surprise and looked up to see a frowning Gokudera. "What? Don't think I don't know that you're thinking that we'll leave you just because we're angry." Yamamoto suddenly popped beside him and pulled him into a tight side-way hug. "We won't, you know. We won't leave you just because of that"

Tsuna smiled at that. "I got to agree, Ryuuichi. You're an idiot. We aren't angry. We're just a bit sad that you hide something so big from us. But then again, it was quite logical why you hide it." He moved nearer and patted the teen on the head. "Thank you, Ryuuichi. For letting all this happen." He grinned sheepishly. "If you didn't, I wouldn't even have grow. All of us wouldn't have grow"

Ryuuichi's eyes were wide in surprise. He saw the others nodded in agreement with the brunette's words, minus Hibari and Mukuro, but they held the same sentimental. He was suddenly pulled to face Yuuichi. "BakaRyuu. Don't carry such a heavy burden by yourself next time."

"Share it with all of us. Isn't that why we're a  _family_?" Gokudera added.

It was then when he felt the bond between everyone of them in the room. The bond he had with all of them. He let out a small laugh, the heavy boulder on his shoulder wasn't lifted, but was carried alongside with all of them. He felt lighter, relief and happy. A smile stretched across his lips as the noisy atmosphere came back.

"I..." They looked at him. "Than-" He choked. "Thank you.." He buried his face in his hands. 'Thank you so much for everything'

Everyone exchanged a fond look, before they all poked the teen, laughing and shouting, all reverting back to their usual selves. Sakura and Kei let the youngsters mess around, watching by the sideline. They were very glad that their son has so many good friends that would aid him along the way.

"Ah!" A loud crash was heard and suddenly, they were all in a pile, with Ryuuichi at the bottom. Yuuichi was on top of him, followed by Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Dino and Ryohei suddenly jumped onto the pile. Lastly, Byakuran sat on top of everyone. The rest laughed by the side, while Mukuro merely chuckled and Hibari scoffed.

"God- You guys are heavy!!"

Honestly, all of them are such good people.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi was carrying a tray of cups to the kitchen to refill them for the others. The smile that had plastered on him never dropped. Happiness had overwhelmed him too much. A sudden weight on his head made him blink, but did nothing to shook the infant off. "BakaRyuu"

He laughed at that. "Yeah"

Reborn shook his head in fond exasperation. He tugged at the hair lightly as Ryuuichi walked. 'Remember that you have all of us, BakaRyuu. Don't hide from us.' Ryuuichi didn't need to hear those words to know what Reborn was implying. He smiled a bit wider at that. 'I know. Thank you'

"And when are you going to tell us that you were once a girl?" Ryuuichi  _ **slipped**_.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Hibari." The said prefect tilted his head to look at the one who called him and turned back up after a glance, looking at the clouds drifting. A sigh was heard, but he paid no heed. There was a few rustling and all, and Ryuuichi managed to climb up the roof, sitting beside him.

"When did you climbed up here?" He grunted and closed his eyes. The rest are too noisy for his liking and the scene had practically screamed 'crowding'. As much as he wanted to bite all of them to death, he knew that he couldn't. He does not want to risk himself into getting screamed by Ryuuichi after all. (That, and Ryuuichi's parents were there. He would be practically nothing if he wasn't respectful towards them. If they were anyone other than Ryuuichi's parents, on the other hand, he wouldn't give them a single damn and just go his merry way.)

(And no, he wasn't afraid of Ryuuichi's scolding. He found it  _very_  annoying. That's all)

Ryuuichi chuckled. He lied down on the roof, shifting until he found a comfortable position and stayed there. They both stayed like that for who knows how long, one watching the cloud drift while one simply bask in the comfortable silence. There was no other words exchanged, for they felt as though their feelings connected.

\-------------------------------- **Bonus 1** \-----------------------------------------

" **What?!** " Ryuuichi winced, rubbing his sore ass. He was glad that he had placed the tray on the kitchen counter before Reborn spoke. He tilted his head up and bent back to look at the crowd by the door. "Why are you guys eavesdropping?!" He groaned. Yuni giggled at the scene as Ryuuichi groaned again. "Did you told Reborn about this, Yuni? Why?" She laughed.

"Because it seems fun"

"Wait, are you serious?" He flushed and ruffled his hair. He looked away, nodding. "Yeah" Sakura immediately wriggled into the kitchen, squealing as she wrapped him in a tight hug. "I've always wanted a daughter! Now I can dress you up!" "Mother,  **no!!** " Yuuichi was so flabbergasted that he was literally frozen. The memories of the time he and Ryuuichi bathed together played in his mind. And then at his mother's words, weird, unthinkable imaginations hit him like a truck. And, he suddenly fell onto the ground like an unstable log.

Kei chuckled at his wife's antics, but he himself was in shock. The last thing he had expected was that his older son was once a girl.The fact that Ryuuichi has past life memories was mind blowing enough, he honestly didn't need another. And it seemed like Yuuichi agreed with him as the younger twin fell, mumbling incoherent words under his breath as though he had just seen a ghost or something.

Kyoko and Haru turned red, especially Haru's since she remembered Ryuuichi talking about a certain things. And then there was a mischievous glint. If given the chance, they would certainly help Sakura dress him up. (The giggled to themselves evilly and Ryuuichi outright  _shivered_  right there, right then) Chrome on the other hand, merely flushed more than usual. She exchanged looks with Yuni, before smiling softly.

Mukuro chuckled menacingly as his mind filled up with the illusions he would make just to tease Ryuuichi. (Sometimes later, he would stop. With a fist in the face. Not) (And sometimes later, he would join force with Byakuran, whom both ended up in the hospital for a month)

Gokudera, well, had the same reaction as Yuuichi's. His soul practically flew out. Figuratively of course. Too much surprise for him as well. Yamamoto laughed nervously, but everyone noticed that he was blushing hard. For what reason, they somehow did not want to know. Tsuna gawked. He then shrieked in embarrassment when the memories of the time he found the older Ryuuichi  _hot_ , replayed in his mind like a broken record. Ryohei, Spanner and Shoichi wasn't doing any better, honestly.

Dino. That blonde Cavallone boss  _flipped_. He so do not need to know that he (Not him, his future self. But the memories were there) had literally being half naked before in front of Ryuuichi and was the one blushing like a teenager when Ryuuichi was the one who is a teenager. Can his life just get any  _better_.

And Hibari. Well, his eyes just widen. Like, widen. No words could describe how Hibari felt inside though. Surprised, relief, confusion, dumbfound, all of it. It just all jumbled up into a ball of tangled crap. However, when he collected his thoughts, a smirk found it way onto his lips.

"Ah! That means you like guys? We'll support you! Just remember to adopt, alright?" " **Mother!!** " His smirk couldn't stretch any wider.

\------------------------------- **Bonus 2** \----------------------------------

Yuuichi was angry. He was sad. He was wretched. His heart honestly couldn't take it. He doesn't know how cruel the world of the mafia, but he definitely know that it wasn't a nice place. He doesn't need to experience it first hand to know that it was unworldly there, and he never had the intention to experience it. He had no interest in this kind of bloody world and never had the thought of his family being in them.

But his parents are the mafia. His  _brother_  is the mafia.

They saw the cruelty he had never saw. They experienced the feeling of being at the edge of a cliff, and the feeling of pushing someone of the cliff. They're  _tainted_.

Yet, he couldn't find the urge to hate them. He couldn't find the need to scream bloody murder at them, and probably cut ties with them. No. He couldn't. He  _love_  them too much. He just couldn't.

Instead, he felt miserable and livid that they hide such things from him for  _so long_. That they carried all that burden by themselves. He wanted to know. He wanted to share their burden. It's  _unfair_  how they didn't want him to carry it. It's definitely infuriating when they still didn't reveal all of it.

But he would wait. He would wait until they tell him everything. And until then, he'll share their burden, aid them in carrying the heavy pile of crap. (Later on, he would understand more on their decision as he himself gained his own share of heavy burden. Later on, Ryuuichi would bonk him in his head when everything backfired and demand him to tell them, like how he demanded his brother to tell him now. Have he mentioned how much he  _love_  his family?)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I got to be honest here. I'm not satisfied with this chapter. Yes, I am happy, but somehow, I'm not really satisfied. 
> 
> So, I decided to write random ones. It's connected, just that I couldn't find a good place to put it. In addition, since there's too much characters and I'm not good at writing so many at once, I decided to break it up into another part. And Bonus 1 is the moment when they found out that Ryuuichi was once a girl.
> 
> Bonus 2= An add in here because I couldn't find a good spot to place it as well. *laugh nervously* It's.. weird? Oh well.
> 
> Fun Fact= Yuuichi actually didn't mind that his parents and Ryuuichi, and the others, are killers. He knows that they wouldn't kill just for the sake of it, and that being in the mafia, it is impossible for one not to kill, accidentally or not.
> 
> Fun Fact= When night falls, Yuuichi and Ryuuichi slept together again, with Yuuichi demanding Ryuuichi to tell him all the miscellaneous stuff about his past life. Yuuichi learned to never question Ryuuichi's sense of humor, which is dark, and weird. Oh, and they didn't sleep at all, actually.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi and Reborn somehow, in the chaos, managed to become best friends. Tsuna and Dino had never feared for their own lives so much before.
> 
> Fun Fact= All of them learned that Ryuuichi actually have a really short temper, but is really good at hiding it and tends to forget about it after a while, unless he burst first, that is.
> 
> I wanted to write more about Sakura, Kei, Dino and Hibari, but well, I couldn't think of anything else better to write other than Sakura and Kei being afraid of Yuuichi's reaction, Dino wasn't pleasantly surprised by all that and Hibari was pleasantly surprised by all that. I couldn't smile any more bigger on Hibari's part. (My cheeks hurt so much sheesh)
> 
> Fun Fact= Fon soon established an understanding with Ryuuichi on how Hibari tends to be bratty sometimes. And how Reborn can be a wacko (most of the time). (Ryuuichi earned a flying kick on his head while Fon got aimed by a shot, but was dodge)
> 
> Fun Fact= Dino and Yuuichi became the exasperated duo on Ryuuichi's antics, but Yuuichi was more of it rather than Dino because Dino himself is a dorky crap as well (lol)
> 
> Welps. Too many fun facts here lol. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	61. Lingering Memory

_"I'll never leave you alone, I promise!"_

A small sigh left Yuuichi's lips as he stepped into his brother's room. He moved around the scattering books that Ryuuichi was rearranging on the shelves the previous night and sat on his bed. "Ryuu, wake up" He patted his brother's cheeks. Ryuuichi's eyebrows tugged into a frown as he patted again. Ryuuichi released a groan and shifted away from the rather cold hands, pulling his duvet up to cover his face and buried himself further into the bed.

Yuuichi raised an eyebrow. His brother usually doesn't act like this, especially during school period. Either Ryuuichi stayed up late or he couldn't sleep, but that was like a ten percent thing. He had seen too many times when his brother woke up a little later than usual, by jumping out of bed in split second and into the toilet in another. "Ryuu, if you don't wake up soon, we'll be late." Another louder groan was heard as he waited for a minute before Ryuuichi promptly threw the duvet off his face and sat up. His raised eyebrow arched higher when his brother rubbed the bridge of his nose with an annoyed sigh.

"Bad dreams?"

Ryuuichi shook his head. "No. Rather," He covered his mouth as he yawned. "A memory."

\--------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi yawned into his scarf for the nth time. He blinked away the tears and rubbed his eyes as he walked along side with Yuuichi. He was feeling strangely tired and stiff ever since he woke up. He wondered if it was how he slept the previous night or that it was because he was being hypersensitive since he had being frequently summoning his flames out to show Yuuichi. Something told him that that wasn't the case, though. He shifted his back pack before stuffing his hands into his coat's pocket. He looked up at the gloomy sky.

'It's getting colder and colder, don't you think?" He breathed out, a small mist formed. His brother nodded. "Yeah. They say it would be a White Christmas this year." Ryuuichi grunted, shrugging at that. "They said that almost every year, but it only came true less than five times"

"Though, it would be great if it does snow on Christmas this year." He agreed since he himself wanted it to snow on Christmas after all these time. He felt that it would be very satisfying.

Yuuichi turned to him, lips tugged down. "Are you really going to quit Archery and Chess?" He wasn't really happy with that. He knew that Ryuuichi enjoys the activities and practices despite not going frequently so when he told him of his plan, Yuuichi wasn't amused. He tried to persuade his brother to enjoy it until they graduate from Middle School, but Ryuuichi merely smiled and said he wanted more time to spend with him.

(He didn't need Ryuuichi to verbally tell him that he quit because of the mafia business. He didn't, but he wished that he would get a concrete confirmation.)

Ryuuichi smiled wryly and took out a hand from his pocket and grabbed Yuuichi's, interlacing their fingers together. He rubbed the back of his palm with his thumb, a weak attempt to warm Yuuichi's hand up. "We already went through that, brother dearest. I quit partly because of the mafia, not for their sake though, but I really wanted more times in hand. That, and I couldn't stand the guilt in me for skipping club activities even though the teachers and other members didn't mind."

Ever since he revealed the truth a month ago, he had being more open to everyone. The others, on the other hand, invited (read, dragged) him out more often than usual either to hang out or train or any other shenanigans Reborn had planned. He would, too, pull Yuuichi along with him whenever his brother is free. There were a few time he had to decline because of club activities, which annoyed since he missed out the hilarious things that happened.

He laughed when Yuuichi gave him a stink eye. "Did you just read my mind?" "No, no. You're just too obvious" He swung their hands lightly along with their steps.

"Then you owe me a crepe" He laughed again.

"Sure~"

\--------------------------------------------------------

"Class, quiet down now" Everyone hastily went back to their seats, as their homeroom teacher came in, immediately silenced themselves. Ryuuichi, who had turned around to chat with his brother, looked back to the front. He tilted his head slightly when he noticed that the teacher had something to announce. Wondering what it was he propped up his head on his hands, elbow supported by the table and listened.

"Eh, because of a few problems, a student from class 2-B will be transferred into our class. Please come in" His eyes narrowed when a teen with dark blue hair and eyes walked in as the teacher wrote his name.

"I'm Amemori Hibiki." Those dark blue orbs shifted and met him in the eyes. He tensed up visibly at that, fingers twitching as he scowled. He immediately broke the eye contact and looked out of the window. His hand covered his mouth as he tried to block out the stare. There was something about that teen that made him uncomfortable and he had no idea what it was. He forced himself to relax and brought his own mind else where as Amemori passed by him to the back of the class, seating at one of the empty seats.

Once he heard the chair dragging against the floor, he turned back to the teacher, pulling out the needed stuffs. During the whole lesson, he could still feel the stare on him. He twitched quite a lot in his seat, to the point that Yuuichi noticed and pulled his hair.

He tugged his hair away from his brother's grasp as he turned to look at his brother, away from stare. "What?" He whispered, noticing Yuuichi's frown. "Are you alright? You seemed restless." He nodded, sighing inaudibly. "Yeah"

"Shiroki-kun. Question 59." "Geh-"

He turned back around to the teacher as Yuuichi stood up. He rubbed the back of his neck. 'I should run to the reception room during lunch later...' He for some unknown reason, didn't want to be confronted by the teen.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Immediately after the bell rang, Ryuuichi kept all his stuff in a hurried pace, took his bento from Yuuichi while apologizing for not eating lunch with him and practically speed-walked out of the classroom. He automatically headed to the reception room, passing by a few other Discipline Committee member. They ignored him even when his intention was clear, knowing he was one of the people Hibari could stand.

He turned a corner and slid the door open, closing it after he went in. He breathed out, and walked to the couch, plopping down with a tired huff. Hibari, who was doing paper works, raised an eyebrow at that.

He watched the teen placing his bento on the coffee table and looking absolutely unsettled. He was curious, wondering who managed to make Ryuuichi uncomfortable to that point. Whoever it was, they must be something because Hibari knew that not much people could shake him out of his composure, he himself being one of those people.

"Sorry. Let me stay here until the bell rings" He hummed, but did not return his attention to the paper works. Instead, he continued to observe, eyes never leaving Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi knew that Hibari was staring at him, but somehow, he didn't mind. Hibari's stare didn't bothered him like how Amemori's did. Perhaps it was because it was Hibari, not some guy he didn't even talked to before other than the one time-

He frowned. He just remembered that he met him before. More specifically, bumped into him. That incident had actually slipped out of his mind during the whole mayhem he went through. He had  _forgotten_  about it, and he should have fully  _forgotten_  about it. Instead, it suddenly hit him out of nowhere. It doesn't make any sense at all. Why would he remember an incident that involved a stranger? He bit the inside of his cheeks out of habit.

"What is it?" He jolted at the sudden question that sounded so close to him. He turned to Hibari who was suddenly beside him and sweated. 'When did he moved?' He inched away when he found the prefect a bit too close. "Nothing much..?"

He gave him an exasperated look when Hibari didn't believe that. "It doesn't look like 'nothing' to me." The prefect reached over and took the bento. He opened it up and ate a sweet egg roll. "Ah!" Ryuuichi pouted. He tried to take it back but Hibari held it out of his reach.

He accidentally slipped when he tried to grab it by climbing over Hibari and landed on the prefect's lap. He twisted around so that he was facing Hibari and reached for it again. "Hibari! St-" A sweet egg roll was plopped into his mouth. He blinked in surprise and halted.

Hibari was smirking as he chewed on another sweet egg roll. Ryuuichi rolled his eyes and gave up. He leaned backwards and lied down, practically sprawling on Hibari's lap. If he was still the old him, he would have leaped off in matters of seconds but he got used to these kind of situation that he didn't care anymore.

He slowly chewed as his mind drifted elsewhere. All the tension in him somehow had disappeared as though it was never there in the first place, his nerves calmed down during the scuffle he had with Hibari. He absentmindedly wondered how did the prefect did it, staring at his face as he ate. (He should be annoyed that Hibari was eating his bento but he couldn't find the urge to.)

His eyelids slowly got heavier and heavier and he eventually fell asleep. Hibari glanced at him. It was ironic, the turn of events, that is. He had never expect him to fall asleep just like that, not to mention that Ryuuichi had never slept in school, even with the others.

Hibird flew in from the small gap of the slightly open window. The prefect gave the yellow bird a look as it flew towards him, landing on Ryuuichi's chest. The teen didn't even stir as the Hibird chirped a little. Hibari shifted slightly and positioned him more comfortably, his head on his lap. Ryuuichi merely made a small voice of annoyance but didn't wake up, turning to face Hibari's abdomen.

Hibari raised an eyebrow at that. He shook his head and returned to the food. He would have to wake him up before the bell ring.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi was pouting while he rubbed his forehead. He bit into the melon bread and huffed. He, by some weird miracle, managed to fall asleep on Hibari's lap without being killed. When the bell rang, Hibari tried to wake him up to no avail, so the prefect resorted to flicking him on his forehead, hard. It was painful, enough said. He was sure that the sore spot was red. (He had woke up to looking straight into Hibari's stomach, much to his amusement)

He sighed and walked back to his class, finished the bread along the way, his bento in another hand. Aside from the forehead flicking and eating his bento, he was grateful of the prefect for letting him stay in the reception room. Hell even use his lap as a pillow or some sort. He had thought that he would be pushed down onto the floor. Fortunately and luckily, that did not happen.

He rolled his shoulders, listening to the satisfying cracks and stared at the wall, hand stretch out to throw the plastic into the dustbin. And then his eyes widen. 'Oh god. Hibari's really  _really_ handsome.' He covered his face, feeling his face heating up. (His ears were red as well) He knew that Hibari's handsome and rather cute, but he just realized that. It hit him harder than he had thought.

He shakily released the plastic and let it drop down into the dustbin. He breathed out and calmed himself, silently cursing his brother for he had said before. He took a few more deep breath before continuing his track, trying to think of other things other than Hibari.

He clicked his tongue at a few failed attempts. He ruffled his hair in a hasty manner. "Ahh, damn..."

\--------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi dodged the ball, jumping to the side as he laughed. He caught one of the balls that was heading his way and threw it across the gymnasium, hitting one of his classmates. He then retreated back, letting his teammates take the lead to catch his breath. He panted as he chuckled at the sight of Gokudera dodging one of the balls from Yamamoto. Somehow, Ryuuichi, Enma and Gokudera ended up in a group while his brother, Yamamoto and Tsuna in the other for dodge ball. In the midst of the game, everyone on his team made a goal to not get hit by the balls Yamamoto threw. Logically, even if they didn't made that, they would need to dodge it anyway.

Unless they wanted to get concussion, that is.

He patted Enma on the shoulder when the red head got hit by the ball at the same time with Tsuna. He went back into the game, yelling cheers and yelps when the ball heading towards him missed by a few inches.

Out of the sudden, he froze. A shudder ran down his spine as he turned around, scanning the whole gymnasium. Everyone was focused on the game and none of them noticed anything. He warily looked again, searching for something, but there was none. A frown formed on his face. He was sure that there was something amiss. He knew, but he had no idea what it was. It just doesn't sit right for him.

'Perhaps I should ask Reborn later. He probably would notice something'

"Ryuuichi!" His train of thought was broken when he heard his brother's voice and turned to him. His eyes widen when he saw a ball heading towards him at a rather fast speed. He cursed under his breath for not paying attention, knowing he wouldn't be able dodge that. His arms raised up in attempt to block the ball from colliding with his head.

Only, there was no impact. He slowly lowered his arms. He was taken aback when Amemori stood in front of him, blocking the ball from him. The rest ran towards them, asking whether they were alright. "Oi, Ryuu. You okay?" He nodded stiffly as the other faced him. "Umm.. Thank you-" His eyes narrowed and snatched Amemori's hands.

"You're bleeding." He stubbornly held on when he felt his hands slipping away from his grasp. "It's okay-" "No it's not." He shot back and raised his hands to garner the teacher's attention. "Sensei! He's hurt! I'm taking him to the infirmary!"

Without waiting for a reply, he tugged the teen along with him.

As he headed to the infirmary, he wondered what he was doing. He had just literally went his merry way and dragged the very person that gave him creeps since morning without giving a second thought. Granted, the other had literally just saved him. It was practically his responsible. But still, the fact that he would do such a thing in a harsher manner was simply just, weird. That, and the chills he had from Amemori didn't fully disappear, but it lessen a lot.

It didn't help when he felt that the grasp on his hands familiar.

'What the hell...'

He screamed in his mind, telling his brain to just shut up as they reached their destination. He opened the door, pulled Amemori in and closed it.

He groaned when he noticed Shamal wasn't around, probably flirting with some random girl or hunting for one. Actually, that sounded wrong but whatever, he didn't care anymore at the moment. A loud sigh ripped out of his mouth as he gestured Amemori to sit after he washed his hands, making a beeline to the shelves and pulled out the first aid box.

He dragged the office chair towards the bed the other had sat on and took out the antiseptic, cotton and pincer. As he soaked the cotton, he could feel Amemori's eyes on him. He tried to ignore it but it was just intense. Too intense. Once done, he held one of the injured hands and dabbed it with cotton, disinfecting it. (He was briefly glad that Sakura had drilled first aids into his and his brother's head when they were younger, or he would be fumbling with things now)

"How the hell did you managed to cut yourself with a ball?" He grumbled. He didn't meant to sound harsh, but it just slipped out of his lips. It made him wondered how was he able to be himself with a stranger that he had only met once. Normally, he would be more polite towards someone he doesn't know well, only spoke when needed. But with this person, he somehow couldn't do it. He felt as though it was weird and awkward. (However, it intrigued him. The ball was thrown by Yamamoto given that the speed was horrifying, and Amemori managed to stop it with his bare hands. Either this dude is suicidal or strong. Or plain stupid)

Then it dawned him. He was literally alone in a room with Amemori. His alarms went blaring in him, urging him to back away from the teen but he stubbornly stayed. He had to finish this. Even though he was getting more uncomfortable, he continued with his pace, wrapping the hand after he placed the pincer and bloodied cotton down.

A rather throaty chuckle made him twitch. He slowly peered up through his bangs to look at the amused teen before he turned his attention back to the hand, moving on to the other.

"You're still as usual, huh" He scowled and fully looked up, not even hiding the fact that he was uncomfortable. "What are you talking-" His words faltered at the very familiar name that slipped out. His eyes widen as his hand slacken, the pincer dropped onto the ground, clattering.

Amemori's eyes were soft and gentle, gazing at him with fond expression and familiarity that he couldn't put a finger on it, a small smile on his face. Ryuuichi paled and slowly backed away, releasing the hands.

"You.. Who are you?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter of Trapped Arc!! And it ends with a cliffhanger! Sorry!
> 
> This chapter barely hit 3K words =w=ll. And it's a bit short, yes. *sigh* Oh well.
> 
> This is actually rewritten. The first one I wrote was confusing as hell and too weird so I rewrite it again.
> 
> I don't remember if I've mentioned about this before or not, but people other than the twins' friends calls them by their surname. Ryuuichi as Shiro while Yuuichi as Shiroki. One classmate of theirs set this during their first year because it confused her, so it kind of stuck. (During primary, they had quite a lot of fun when their teachers kept confused who was who and, it just amused them a lot)
> 
> The guys were playing dodge ball and the girls were playing net ball, if its confusing.  
> 
> Ehhh, About Amemori Hibiki, he's like, short hair, a bit unruly and pointy but not like Tsuna. Yeah. Albeit Fluffy. Lol no.
> 
> Well, some of you probably realize who Amemori is to Ryuuichi since this is so cliche and all, congrats! *gives virtual cookie*
> 
> Amemori appeared once in the Inheritance Succession Arc, as you all know, and some of you really awaits for his appearance apparently. Welp, here he is.
> 
> Fun Fact= The original idea for this chapter was that all of them are third years, Hibari, Kusakabe and Ryohei graduated, the twins, Tsuna and the others, and the girls in the same class, Amemori as well. Enma and his guardians went back to Shimon Middle, Mukuro and his group in one of the high school in Kokuyo but still stays at Kokuyo Land. It was just a whirlpool of confusion so I change it.
> 
> Fun Fact= Since the canon plot ended around the end of Autumn, October, probably, if I remembered correctly, so this arc started off in December. It hadn't snow, obviously, and winter break haven't begin. Will do in another few more chapters, probably.
> 
> Fun Fact= Yuuichi said that Ryuuichi owned him crepes, but the insane part of me wanted to make it Ice cream instead. Guess who won?
> 
> Question. Can someone really get cut by a ball? I don't know. I know I could potentially get concussion. Not because of the ball hitting my head. But me headbutting someone. Happened a few months ago, and damn was it painful.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	62. Locked

The smile never left his face even when Ryuuichi backed away, fear and uncertainty clear in those dark brown orbs. He had expected that reaction. He had  _long_  expected that.

"I'm sure you know who am I."

Ryuuichi stayed silent. His lips tightly sealed as disbelief flashed brightly in his eyes. His whole being ran cold. "Lies" He hissed out. Amemori didn't falter. "But you knew I wasn't lying" Each syllabus of his words had Ryuuichi shaking internally. He wanted to deny it. He wanted to deny the truth. He wanted to deny everything about the teen in front of him

And yet, he couldn't.

He knew who Amemori is. He couldn't believe it, and he found it absolutely absurd, but he knew it was the truth. However, as much as he knew that, he couldn't make himself believe it. He just didn't want to. He took in a shaky breath and steadied himself, harden his heart. His hands curled tightly up into fist, nails digging into his palm.

"Why are you here, Alex?" He said slowly.

If anything, the smile on the other's face brighten a fraction. "I thought that you would ask how, but well, you're never really the expected one." Amemori chuckled and leaned back slightly, his hands supporting him. "To start a new life, of course."

Ryuuichi almost snarled, but he managed to stop himself the second before he did. "Who brought you here?"

"I did." Out of nowhere, Caelum appeared. He stood between the two, a solemn look plastered on his face. Ryuuichi whipped his head to the deceased man and growled. "What?" Caelum sighed.

"Before you say anything, yes. I did erased your existence from your previous world." He frowned. "However, your friend here, is different. You see, people from the other world shouldn't be able to see me under any circumstances. Him, on the other hand, did." Ryuuichi knew that there were people who can see things others usually can't, but he didn't knew the teen in front of him could.

"The first time I erased his memories, it didn't last for more than a month. When I went to erase again, he saw me." Caelum hand flailed weakly. "How should I know he would. And then, apparently, he doesn't belong in that world as well. His case is different than yours, but I don't know what caused it as well"

Ryuuichi just wanted to throw something at him at that very moment. "Then what makes you so sure that he belongs here?" When Caelum gave him a rather unimpressed look, he did threw the bandage that was on the table at him. The man wasn't unfazed by that as he merely tilted a little to the side and dodged it fully.

"He can't see me right now, can he?" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at that and looked back at Amemori. ( _Alex, he's Alex, Ryuuichi wanted nothing but to forget it_ ) Amemori smiled at him when he realized that Ryuuichi was looking at him. "Are you talking to the man who brought me here?"

He looked back at Caelum and gave him a 'What the actual hell' look. Caelum sighed again and suddenly, he became more, solid. Ryuuichi caught the flash of surprise and the very visible jolt from the other.

"Hello." He ignored how the man greeted Amemori back and asked again. "When?"

"The year after you were born in this world, during the end of winter. During the timeline you were here until we met, merely a few days has passed there. His memories were sealed until he bumped into you."

Ryuuichi stared at him for a period before groaning, burying his face in his hands, kept on groaning non-stop even when it got louder. "What is this piece of crap..." He grumbled. He bit the bottom of his lips and heaved a sigh. "... I broke my promise, didn't I?"

Caelum took that as a signal to leave, giving the current Historian his own privacy. Even though they have the same soul, each of them have their own burden and heart. This is something Caelum knew, did and respect. Similar to how Ryuuichi did to him.

Amemori blinked at the sudden question- no, statement. He paid no heed to the man who disappeared into thin air and nodded sadly. "Yeah.." Ryuuichi clenched at his bangs, hands shaking slightly. Amemori could clearly see it, but he said nothing about it. Instead, he waited for Ryuuichi's respond.

"I.." Ryuuichi met him in his eyes, dark blue orbs met flashing dark brown ones. "I won't apologize, if that is what you don't need. But, I want us to start over and leave the past behind, if you're willing. I don't expect you to comply, however. It's your right not to, anyway."

Amemori was honestly taken aback. He, after all these years, knew that Ryuuichi is one that accepts something easily, letting go and overcoming something with little to no trouble, but then again, Ryuuichi is never one to do things the expected way.  _Never_. When is he going to get used to that? And Amemori didn't know what to feel with how easily Ryuuichi wanted to let go of the past. (No, no. He could never let it go easily. Ryuuichi never let things go  _easily_ )

He let out a small chuckle. "Yes."

If anything, Ryuuichi's eyes looked brighter. The smile that appeared on his face looked so genuine, less tensed. "I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi." He held out his hands. Amemori took it and shook it firmly, like how he always does. "I'm Amemori Hibiki. Hibiki is fine."

Ryuuichi practically grinned.

\------------------------------------------------------

"Ryuu." Yuuichi called out from the other lane, waving to his brother as a gesture to come with the basket. He wasn't even looking at him as he stared at the price tag and the product, soap and shampoo, as though they were going to move on their own. Ryuuichi dazedly trotted over, out in space as he didn't even realize his brother put the opened shampoo under his nose.

He jolted back and blinked. Yuuichi raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't question it. "Is this fine?"

He eyed the bottle of shampoo for a moment before leaning in and smelt it. "Yeah, but what is it?" He leaned back, taking a look at the label. It smelt a bit strange, but acceptable, the mixture of the smell of grass when it rains and the smell of the sun. He didn't even  _know_  what the sun smells like.

"Really?" He gave Yuuichi an unconvinced look, rather exasperated but unconvinced, while his brother merely shrugged. "It smells kind of nice and it's on offer, so why not?" He took the bottle and placed it in the basket, shifting his hand at the extra weight.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"Just let me grab the toothpaste and we're done." He nodded as Yuuichi walked to another lane, following closely behind. "Are you okay though?"

"What?"

Yuuichi grabbed two box of toothpaste from one of the shelves, looking at who knows what before placing it in the basket and looked straight into Ryuuichi's eyes. Ryuuichi gave him a weary smile. "Yea-" He stopped short when Yuuichi gave him the  _look_. "Okay, not really. I'm mentally exhausted, but I'll be fine."

Ever since he told Yuuichi most of the things, his brother had being able to pick up his underlying meaning between each word, the small, little lies he told, and whenever he hide things from him. Fortunately, he couldn't see through nor know whatever it was, or Ryuuichi might as well lock himself up in a room without window. Not really, but it really could be tiring (and scary) sometimes when someone knew every little thing you're thinking about. Even if it's Yuuichi. He likes his own privacy and space, thank you very much.

He let out an noise of annoyance when Yuuichi ruffled his hair in a hard manner. He tried to avoid the hands as Yuuichi let out a laugh. "Thank you," He stopped and looked at him in confusion. "For telling me" Yuuichi laughed again when he blushed slightly and shifted his eyes away.

"Hey, stop-!" He groaned when his hair was practically a mess. He pouted at him as he pulled his hair tie down, combing his hair with his fingers. Yuuichi merely smiled and tugged Ryuuichi's other hand and pulled him to the cashier.

"Tell me all of it when you're ready, alright?" Ryuuichi blinked at that. A sense of warmth and peaceful feeling flooded him as he nodded. "I will"

\-------------------------------------------------------

"Yuu. I'm going out for a jog. Might stay out late so don't wait for me, alright!" He kicked in his shoes slightly and took the keys, his phone and the zipped his jacket up when he heard Yuuichi's reply. He chuckled when he heard loud curses and things tumbling down, shaking his head and walked out.

He shuddered as he closed the door shut. It was definitely colder at night. He almost wanted to go back into his house, into the safe, warm atmosphere and perhaps help his brother with his room. (Yuuichi insisted that he would clean and rearrange his own room by himself when he offered a hand. Finding it quite amusing, he complied. Though, it probably wouldn't be a good idea since his brother was having hard time and his poor toes were suffering.)

He tug on the hoodie and tighten it, his breath creating small mist in the air. 'I wouldn't be surprise if it's below fifteen degrees now' He shrugged and ran out of the gate, jogging slowly.

He let his own feet take him anywhere, mind high in space. Although he felt a little lighter after the not-really-talk with his brother, he was still troubled. Amemori's appearance had brought back up all the memories of his past life. Everything just jumbled up in his head more than they could ever be to the point that he couldn't really concentrate on one thing without his mind drifting to the other side of the universe twice.

Amemori is,  _was_  his childhood friend. They knew each other since they were practically born, with Alex younger than  _her_  by a few months. They went to the same kindergarten, the same primary school, the middle school and hell even high school. They literally never separated before.

It made Ryuuichi wonder though, but then he remembered how they used to fill up each other's flaws, accepting one and another, helping each other to get through tough times. He was honestly a brother  _she_ never had, until now. (Yuuichi could never be replaced.  _ **Never**_ ) The promises they made were plenty, some both had forgotten and occasionally broken, some done and over with, and some, specifically one, last forever. It was a promise they made when they were still childish brats and was never forgotten at all, no matter how long it has passed.

_She_  would call it an oath, but Ryuuichi calls it a promise that never should be made. It had brought on pain and suffering in their past lives, and he was sure that it would bring more if it was kept on longer. Which was exactly why he had asked for Amemori to leave the past and move on.

( _He was, and still is a bad friend. It never break him more to see Amemori's eyes, the so familiar gaze, filled with broken pieces of their past. It never hurt him more to see Amemori suffering because of his petty choice._ )

But it still made him doubt everything and hate himself.

He gritted his teeth and ran faster. Everything just seemed irritating and was bothering him to no end now as his thoughts drifted further. He wanted nothing more than to release the swirling emotions in him, wanted nothing but to let the raging flames in him burn hell fire on the outside. 

Oh how much he realized that he had never really freed himself from his past, never really overcome his demons.

( _Slowly, but surely he did, not fully, but the fire is slowly burning, enkindling everything into ashes to be kept away for eternity._ )

Ryuuichi didn't knew how long he had been running, but when he stopped, his muscles were screaming at him, sore. He was panting, lungs desperately trying to get more oxygen into his system. He felt a bit light headed, but that was all. He held onto his knees and took in deep breaths. The thin layer of sweat against his skin made him shiver a bit as the cold wind blew.

He pulled down his hoodie and head tilted up, relief as the now chilling atmosphere cooled his too warm skin down. He took a look around the neighborhood he had ran to, and froze.

'Where.. Am I?'

He frowned. He seriously should have paid attention to where he was jogging to. He had never been to this part of Namimori, if he was still in Namimori, that is, and it was quite dark with the little amount of street lamps. He sighed and ruffled his hair, pushing his bangs back as he slowly walked around to see if there was any sign board or whatsoever hint of where he was. (He would have to resort to using the GPS on his phone to get back, it seems.)

He turned to a corner, and jolted back. He let out a yelp of surprise when a body (No, not corpse. Definitely not corpse given to how the said body groaned out loud) landed a few feet in front of him and stayed stationary at that weird pose on the floor. His hand instinctively reached back to his bo stick hidden in his back pocket when he noticed Hibari with his tonfa out in front of him.

"Holy-!" He stopped himself from fully screaming out loud and sighed in relief.

"What are you doing here?" He grinned sheepishly as Hibari sauntered towards him, stepping onto the body. He sweated at that, pitying the body for a moment. "Well, was jogging and somehow..." He wanted to toe the body, to see if the person was really unconscious or just faking it. He really wanted to. But he didn't. (Something just screamed at him that it was inappropriate and it would probably give him a fright if the body suddenly jolt or something along the line.)

"You're lost aren't you?"

Hibari sounded rather blank. He wasn't amused, nor was he annoyed. He knew how much of a shut-in Ryuuichi could be, seeing that he had never really seen the teen outside before he met him for the first time. If he did, he probably would have attack him head-on in the streets, which he would definitely do. Though, not so much now ever since Ryuuichi got involved with the infant and his chaos.

That, and he knew how much Ryuuichi  _knows_  and how much he  _doesn't_  know. (Honestly, Ryuuichi's brain is just filled with random craps and more often than not, facts and he knows not a single thing about  _certain_  things.)

Ryuuichi made a noise that sounded akin to a dying whale at the back of his throat. ".. Yes, somehow. I've never being to this part of Nami- Are we still even in Namimori?" He could see Hibari's head twitching a bit, as though it was about to tilt but stopped short. The prefect was wondering how long had the other have been running. Ryuuichi's house is practically on the other side of Namimori. (And Ryuuichi didn't even realized that?)

"We are." He walked out of the dark alleyway, made a small gesture to Ryuuichi to follow him. He led the way as Ryuuichi walked to his side, easily falling into his pace. (Ryuuichi was, is, a fast walker, very fast. Never mind that, his legs are quite long as well, even if he was shorter than Hibari by nine centimeter.)

"Then where are we- Whoah" Ryuuichi gaped at the sight of a sleek, black motorcycle that blends in well in the darkness from the lack of street lamps. (They  _really_  need to put up more of it here.) His jaw dropped further when Hibari casually walked towards it and grabbed the helmet. It was then he noticed that the prefect wasn't wearing his gakuran. Instead, Hibari was clad in a fitting, equally black jacket on his being. Jackets specifically for motorcycle, Ryuuichi mentally added. Not leather, however.

He knew that Hibari owns a motorcycle. How the hell a sixteen years old teenager own  _these_  kind of motorcycle was beyond him. He doesn't know much of vehicles or motorcycles in general and found that there wasn't much of a need to anyway, but he knew that  _that_  motorcycle cost more than he could ever imagine. Sure, Hibari's rich and he's practically a dictator of a kind, but Ryuuichi still found it unbelievable.

A better question. Did Hibari even have a  _license_?

"Are you in a hurry back home?" Hibari suddenly asked. Ryuuichi snapped his mouth shut and shook his head. "No..?"

"Good." The prefect threw him the helmet, which he had fumbled a bit at the unexpected throw. Fortunately, he managed to catch it properly.

He blinked in confusion. "What?"

Hibari let out a small sigh and walked over to him. The prefect took the helmet back and placed it on his head. He then moved to fasten it, leaning in closer for a better look. Ryuuichi stiffed for a moment when he felt his hands hovering under his chin. He wasn't touching him, though Ryuuichi could feel it.

And he was dragged to the motorcycle. Before he could even protest or as the matter of fact, say anything, he was lifted and placed on the seat, Hibari himself climbing on effortlessly.

"Umm, senpai..? What.. Where are we going?" 'Where are you going to take me?' He leaned away a little when Hibari gave him a smirk.

"Hold on tight if you don't want to fall and break your neck"

The motorcycle rumbled to life and took off. Ryuuichi really,  _really_  wanted to punch Hibari right there, right then.

\-------------------------------------------------------

In contrary to what he had experienced, riding a motorcycle driven by Hibari was surprisingly pleasant. The rush of the wind against his face was very refreshing, despite the fact that it was cold. He liked it a lot. The ride, the cold, the speed Hibari was going, generally the trip itself.

When he saw the glimpses of the sea, his eyes widen in surprise.

He let out a huff as he climbed down from the motorcycle. He reached under his chin to unfasten the helmet and managed after a few try. He immediately pulled it away, feeling stuffy with his head stuck in it.

His eyes drifted across beach, silent and serene with only the sound of waves crashing. "Why are we here?" He asked as he gave the helmet back to Hibari.

"No particular reason" The nonchalant reply made him raise an eyebrow. "You like the beach?"

"No" He did a double take there. Hibari didn't like the beach, Ryuuichi himself didn't particularly like it as well, so why did Hibari even took them here? "Just wait."

Hibari sat a few feet down on the sand. Ryuuichi didn't understood that at all, but he too, sat down on the sand, arms wrapping around his knees. They sat in silence, both entertained by their own thoughts. Ryuuichi watched the waves creating a calming rhythm.

"You know..." He slowly said, words weight heavily on his tongue as he contemplate on whether he should say it. ".. My childhood friend appeared." A numbing sensation hit him. He continued when he got nothing in reply. "He.. He's from my past life. Weird how he is here. Caelum said something about his soul doesn't belong there or something.

"On logical thinking, I should be happy, no? But I.. I can't. I don't know why, but I don't feel happy at all.." Not knowing how to continue from there, he switched. "We made a promise long time ago. To never leave each other alone. I broke it" He let out a shaky chuckle, brushing his bangs back.

"Sounded stupid, I know. It was a stupid promise we made when we were kids. It tied us down.. It shouldn't have, but it did. It.." His voice faltered out, no longer knowing what to said. His own emotions were overwhelming him,  _drowning_  him once again. Damn, did he  _wanted_ to shatter something.

(He wasn't crying. He really wasn't. He  _didn't_  want to cry.)

Hibari stayed silent as he gathered his own bearings, composing himself once more. "Sorry about that-" His eyes widen when he felt a warm hand on his head, jolting a little. He didn't even notice Hibari shifting closer to the point that their shoulders were merely inches away and he could feel heat radiating from the other.

'It's okay. No matter what, it's okay. I'll listen, and I'll stay'

Hibari didn't say it aloud, but he knew Ryuuichi heard it. He wasn't a great talker, he never was. All his thoughts, all his words are in his head, never spoken but seen through action. (Ryuuichi was similar, yet nothing would be shown through action. It was a great way to hide things, yet a self-destructive and self-torturing method as everything would be bottled up and kept down under the water.)

However, there would be times when he struggled on what to feel, this was one of those time. A part of him wanted to rage and rage on the so called childhood friend whilst the other wanted to hold Ryuuichi tightly. But he couldn't. Not when Ryuuichi was uncomfortable. (Ryuuichi would sometimes flinch from physical touch, a sign that Ryuuichi doesn't, wouldn't open up his deepest, most vulnerable self) He wondered what made him this closed up, wondered what made him lock himself down in chains after chains, hiding his own heart from himself.

He wanted to break him free.

He stroked his head gently. Ryuuichi didn't did anything as he simply sat there, enjoying the warmth. A small smile appeared on his lips as his heart calmed down, feelings settled. "Thank you." 'For listening.'

Hibari made no other acknowledgment to that other than the minuscule tap of his finger. The smile on Ryuuichi's face stretched.

A gasp was heard. "There's full moon today? Wait- it was cloudy just now, how the hell.."

\-------------------------------------------------------

The soft, distant rumble of a vehicle broke Yuuichi's concentration. His hands stopped short on the keyboard he had being typing away to a friend of his as he turned to the window of his room, listening intently. It was already late, really late, and there shouldn't be anyone out. What intrigued him more was that no one in the neighborhood actually own a vehicle with a rumble like that. The noisiest would be the old man a few houses down the street. His motorcycle  _chatters_  really loudly. Yuuichi wouldn't be surprise if it breaks down one day into pieces.

He frowned. The rumbling stopped in front of his house, he was sure of it. The light was a huge giveaway. He stood up from the chair and peeked through the window, only to be surprised when he saw Hibari Kyouya and his brother.

Ryuuichi struggled to get down, legs numb. He stumbled a bit but managed somehow. He hurriedly tried to pull the helmet off to find that it was stuck. He muttered curses under his breath as he tried again. Damn helmet and it's timing. A pair of hands helped him, tilting his head back as it worked on the fastener. Ryuuichi stiffen a bit at that. 'What in the world is with this cliche scenario?'

It took a few moment before the helmet was finally off his head. Ryuuichi rolled his shoulder at the sudden lack of weight. "Um, thank you for taking me home." He had tried to make Hibari stop him near the school since the prefect's house was the opposite direction of his. However, Hibari was really stubborn. He had literally ignored the request and continued. (Though he did threaten to bite Ryuuichi if he kept on stabbing him on the stomach)

Hibari grunted lightly, ruffling his hair, messing it up further. Ryuuichi, for once, didn't push his hands away other than giving him a deadpan look. He merely ruffled harder in return.

"Hey!" Ryuuichi finally leaned away, pouting. The prefect gave him an amused smirk. "You should tell him."

Ryuuichi nodded. He would. It was a given, since he had already planned to tell his brother. "I will. You should head back soon. It's really late."

"Ah. Good night." He greeted back, but when he saw the glint in the prefect's eyes and the sudden realization that there was light behind him, he turned around just as Hibari drove away. There stood Yuuichi with his arms crossed over his chest, giving him a raised eyebrow and a rather accusing look.

He groaned and pushed him in, closing the door behind him after that.

"You said that you were going out for a jog and you went on a date with Hibari?" He suppressed the urge to blush and groaned again. "No! It's just that I got lost somehow and he took me back home!" Yuuichi didn't believe that, he knew it. The look from his brother had said it all, and nothing could convince him.

Deciding to take the pause from his brother a chance, he changed the subject entirely. "Yuu, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Yuuichi's facial expression changed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't meant for this chapter to hit 4K words, but it did.
> 
> Ehh, yes, Amemori was Ryuuichi's childhood friend in their past life. I originally had it planned that they aren't, but it just doesn't fit right.
> 
> If this isn't obvious, then I've no idea what is. Ryuuichi didn't like anyone ruffling his hair other than himself. Or rather, he didn't like anyone to touch his head at all, actually. A complex he has since people more often than not managed to pull a strain or two of his hair out from the tie and he had to tie it again or it would be annoying.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi is very peculiar about his own space and privacy. Unless he's willing, even Yuuichi could never know what is in his mind in full detail. But he mellowed out. Honestly, if you have an adorable brother or really really good friend, why wouldn't you say anything? (A bit confusing?)
> 
> The age limit for someone to get driving license for motorcycle is at least 16 for those smaller (50 to 400cc, according to one website), normal one. For heavy duty or those with larger type one, it's at least 18 and above. Hibari's motorcycle is the heavy one. Thoughhhh, I was confused. There's this page that said 17 and 10 months old. I'm not sure which one sooo.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi had once almost fell off a motorcycle in his past life. Almost.
> 
> Fun Fact= As soon as Hibari took off, Ryuuichi immediately wrapped his arms around Hibari's torso. Like, he was in shock and slightly traumatized by the thought of falling off and getting a concussion. He didn't even realize that he did that ya know. Well, logically if it's a motorcycle driven by Hibari, he really should hold onto the prefect and not the bar at the edge of the seat...?
> 
> Hmmm... I think Tsuna and Reborn will appear in the next chapter. No promise though.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	63. Threats

Tsuna's intuition haven't been blaring. No, instead it buzzed, nagging at the back of his mind. It was annoying despite that he could easily push it back. Though, ignoring his intuition was a bad idea, as how Reborn had put it. The hitman had drilled it into his brain, on how he should never belittle his intuition and how he should always be cautious. Reborn had said that his Hyper Intuition had been the strongest since centuries after Vongola Primo, after all.

No thanks to Reborn.

He smiled when Yamamoto and Gokudera argued, a one-sided argument anyway. However much they argue, Tsuna knew that they are closer than they look. He was able to pick up the hint of fondness under their tones easily, just like how Gokudera and Lambo always fight. There will be fondness, always.

"Stop daydreaming, Dame-Tsuna" A kick on his knee sent him flying forward. He squeaked and braced himself for the impact against the ground, only to land in a pair of arms.

"Whoah!" He immediately jumped back, ignoring how Gokudera screamed at the other and Yamamoto's question of his well-being. "I'm sorry! Are you alright?" He blinked upon looking at dark blue eyes and remembered that it was Amemori. "Yeah, I'm fine" The other teen smiled at him. He felt a little uneasy. The smile looked similar to Ryuuichi's, but there was an edge, and there was something about Amemori. It seemed like Gokudera and Yamamoto felt the same as well.

"Umm, Amemori-san, right?" He slowly started.

"Yep. Amemori Hibiki. Nice to meet you." Tsuna introduced himself as Gokudera and Yamamoto did as well, the bomber not even hiding his distaste to him. "Is your hands alright?" He asked, the memory of Ryuuichi dragging him off with his hands bleeding played in his mind.

Amemori nodded at him, flexing his still bandaged hands. "It's alright, healing up just fine." Reborn suddenly popped into the conversation. "Where are you going to?" When Amemori wasn't fazed by his appearance and the way he spoke, he found it strange.

"Ah, well, I was heading to Ryuuichi's house when I realized that I didn't even know his address"

Very strange. And stupid.

Reborn hummed, smirking. "We're heading there as well, how about we lead you there?" Amemori brighten. "Really? Thanks!" Tsuna immediately pulled him over, whispering. "Are you sure? He..." 'Doesn't feel right' was something Tsuna didn't say out loud, but Reborn knew. Of course he did. Who did Tsuna think he was? But this was a chance to observe him, and Reborn didn't want to lost this chance.

Ever since Amemori transferred into Tsuna's class, he noticed something very wrong. Even Ryuuichi felt it, based on how fidgety he was. Yet, Reborn couldn't seem to find out why. Though, every of those bad feelings centered on Amemori somehow. He really need to  _know_.

"Yes, now lead the way." He pushed the brunette to walk, giving him a look. 'Strike a conversation, Dame-Tsuna'

The brunette groaned at that, not wanting to do it but Reborn would probably give him hell if he didn't. He relented and turned to Amemori, who was walking beside him. (Gokudera gave the latter a stink-eye, glaring with all his might but Amemori feign ignorance. Yamamoto on the other hand, wasn't as cheery as he was before Tsuna bumped into Amemori)

"Eto, Amemori-san. Are you close to Ryuuichi?" Amemori looked at him in confusion. "I mean- It's just that.." He cursed himself internally.

"Oh." He raised an eyebrow when Amemori laughed. "Sorry. I would say yes, but I guess I can't anymore."

"Eh?"

"I'm Ryuuichi's childhood friend." Yamamoto perked up at that, eyes narrowing. He  _is_  Ryuuichi and Yuuichi's childhood friend, and he had never seen Amemori talking to the twins before, much less seeing Amemori when they were younger. "Well, was."

Tsuna was confused at that. He was about to ask further when he noticed that they had reached the twin's house.

Reborn immediately rang the door bell before they could react. A muffled 'Yes' was heard from the door, and then there was a thud and yelp of pain. They, minus Reborn, sweated a little at that as the door swung open.

"Uwa- cold." Ryuuichi shuddered as the cold air blasted in. He frowned at the group, eyes half lidded and hazy. From sleep, perhaps. And forehead was red, banged into something, probably. "Wait, what occasion is this?"

"Let's go shooting." Reborn said as his head whipped towards the hitman. "What?" Ryuuichi asked, unable to load that. He huffed and stepped sideways. "Whatever it is, come in first." One by one, they went in, muttering apologies for the intrusion.

He lead the way after closing the door, yawning. "Did you guys had breakfast?" He walked into the dining room and slumped onto the chair, making a weak gesture for them to sit. They all nodded. Ryuuichi grunted. "Yuu, guests." He yawned again and crossed his arms, burying his face under his arms.

Yuuichi appeared, carrying a tray of hot tea. "I know. I heard them when they were at the door." He rolled his eyes at the sight of his brother dozing off again and served the tea. His eyes were hard when they landed on Amemori, placing the cup in front of him. Nevertheless, Amemori simply smiled and thanked him.

He nodded curtly and sat down beside Ryuuichi. "So, is there anything happening today?" Tsuna jerked his attention from Ryuuichi to the younger twin. "We're going to the shooting range today. We thought it might be a good idea to invite you guys along, but.." He shifted his gaze to Ryuuichi again.

"Is he alright?"

"Yeah, in a few minutes." True to his words, Ryuuichi slowly lifted his head after indeed a few minutes, eyes much clearer than before. (Reborn actually counted, and it was exactly two minutes and one second) "What shooting range? We have one in Namimori? And why so suddenly?"

"It was newly built, a few months ago. And didn't you want to know more about guns?" The gleeful look in Reborn's eyes had Ryuuichi leaning back, away from the hitman. He did asked Reborn to teach him more about guns. It intrigued him like it never did before after owning one, but he never really had the opportunity to learn and reading through the internet was just second-hand knowledge. Despite that second-hand knowledge was good, he still couldn't help but wanted to know and learn it first-hand, through experience.

The most he had was the guns he owned, the one his parents gave him and the one he had gotten from his older self, which was the one he was using. It was modified, so it seemed. The fact that it had endless of bullets in the magazine made him wonder, when he found out that the time he had shot using it, he had actually pumped his cloud flames in unconsciously. Which ended up with the bullets propagating right after it was shot. How was that even possible? (He mentally made note  _not_  to pump his flames into his guns next time.)

Then again, the look in Reborn's eyes made him rethink of even taking up the offer. But the shooting range was  _so_  tempting. He squinted his eyes for a moment before turning to Amemori. "What about you, Hibiki?"

Amemori perked up at the given attention, which reminded Ryuuichi of a neglected dog finally getting attention. "I was thinking that we could hang out today." He nodded stiffly at that, weighing something in his mind. All of them wondered what was he thinking about when he stood up.

"I'm going to change. Give me five minutes. Ten max." And he rushed up to his room.

\-----------------------------------------------------

_**Bang! Bang! Bang!** _

Ryuuichi winced a bit at the recoil. He lowered the gun and rolled his shoulder, sighing in relief at the cracks. (He really needed to get used to the recoil.) He looked at the target he had shot and frowned. The shots were all inches away from the parts he had wanted to hit, one of it was totally off course.

He looked at his hand, the one that was holding the gun. It was shaking, and he had no idea why. 'Adrenaline rush, probably.' He changed the magazine as he willed his hands to stop shaking.

"So," Reborn who was standing by his side suddenly spoke in mid fire. "That kid is your childhood friend." The hitman wasn't even looking at him as he continued to shoot. Ryuuichi looked over and saw the targets dropping down at a rather incredible speed. He shook his head, sweating a little when one of it was a headshot, followed by another bullet going through the same hole. (How was Reborn even allowed to shoot was beyond him. Then again, he  _is_  Reborn.)

" _Was._ " He corrected without remorse and clicked in the magazine, positioned himself. He was mildly aware that Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto were listening, seeing that they were standing on his other side respectively. (Gokudera was teaching both of them how to use a gun) That, and he was speaking rather loudly over the sound of gun shots. (The three perked up in attention at that correction.)

"He's from my past life. Something about his soul doesn't belong there or whatever." He pulled the trigger. Somehow, he managed to hit on the supposedly places of vital organs of a human on the human shaped target. At the corner of his eyes, he saw a shot serving further away than the target that it was supposed to hit.

"Ah! What the hell are you doing, baseball-idiot?!" Ignoring Gokudera's yells, Yamamoto, with rather sparkly eyes trotted over to him, gun still in hand. "Really?"

Ryuuichi backed away slightly when he leaned in, towering over him. "Yeah. Why?" Yamamoto grinned. "Nope~ Nothing~" And he trotted back to where he was standing before. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at that strange behavior and exchanged a look with Tsuna.

The brunette merely gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged.

He returned the shrug and turned back to the target.  _ **Bang! Bang!**_ Reborn lowered his gun and looked at the targets in slight satisfaction, if it could be even called target anymore from all his shots. All of it were basically  _torn_. He turned to Ryuuichi's and looked at the settings.

His dark black eyes glinted and tempered with the settings as Ryuuichi kept shooting, not noticing his doing.

"Oh shit-!" The targets suddenly dropped down one by one at a rather fast speed. He smirked at the curses Ryuuichi gritted out. The teen was all focused on the targets, gunning down each and one of it.

It didn't took him long to finish, given how shaken he was after. "You.. Could have warned me first." He grumbled to the hitman, changing the magazine.

"Where's the fun in it?" Once the magazine clicked in place, the target started dropping again. 'Curse you, Spartan!'

\-----------------------------------------------------

Amemori glanced at the two having fun despite the younger one cursing at the other, gun slowly lowering. Yuuichi, who noticed his stare towards his brother, said nothing about it but kept his eyes on the target. He pulled the trigger and winced, rubbing his shoulder soon after. The recoil was something he couldn't stand. Then again, he couldn't stand the gun as well. It made him wonder why he willingly joined.

'Right. Ryuu.'

Ever since he knew that Ryuuichi used the gun, a  _real_  one, (He had never even  _seen_  his brother shooting using one until now. The one in the arcade doesn't count.) he had wondered what does it feel, shooting.

It didn't really feel good, but it was satisfying seeing his some of his shots hitting at important spots. He still prefer basketball though.

"You know, if I didn't knew that you're Ryuu's friend now, I would have gauge your eyes out."

Amemori's head whipped towards him so fast that he thought that his head would just  _snap_  off his head. He looked at Yuuichi with a pair of disbelief eyes, but the other didn't even turn to look at him. He had  _not_  expected that sudden comment.

"I don't know every shit stuff about you and him in your previous life, but that's all in the past. If you dare to hurt him..." He menacingly said, glaring through his bangs as he clicked in the magazine he had changed. " _I_  personally  _hunt_  you down and  _eradicate_  you." Amemori blinked at that threat, seeing dark aura seeping out of Yuuichi. "Well, I doubt that you don't know the other unsaid warning and consequences. Oh well." 'And they won't be from me only.'

"I know."

Yuuichi raised an eyebrow at the answer, but said nothing else. Instead, he pulled the trigger again, the bullet flying towards the target.

\-----------------------------------------------------

All of the sat down by the huge round table inside a cafe, a cake shop to be exact, a bit tired from all the standing. They had finished their rounds and decided to take a break somewhere, since it they were at a shopping district. "That was fun." Ryuuichi chuckled. He clenched his hands, both still trembling from the adrenaline, but he didn't care. It was really fun.

Yuuichi shook his head, smiling. "Ryuu," He tugged his brother's black coat. "Crepe." Ryuuichi looked towards the signboard that Yuuichi was pointing towards and shook his head fondly, handing Yuuichi his wallet.

"Sure, sure. What flavour do you guys want? My treat."

"Eh, that's alright, Ryuuichi. We don't-" Tsuna tried to protest, but Ryuuichi insisted stubbornly. "B-but..." He yelped out in pain when Reborn hit him right at the back of his head. "Coffee flavour."

"I'm not sure that they have that, but alright." Tsuna paused for a moment. "Then.. Honey Strawberry, please." Ryuuichi smiled at him and nodded before he turned to Amemori. "You?" "If it isn't much trouble, Chocolate Blueberry. Thanks." The younger twin shrugged at that before turning to Gokudera and Yamamoto.

Before a word slipped out of his lips, they both stood up. "I'll help." They said in unison and immediately looked at each other. Well, Gokudera glared and Yamamoto laughed. The former found it annoying but the latter was very amused. 'They looked like a married couple, honestly.' Ryuuichi chuckled internally and he knew Yuuichi felt the same from how his lips stretched up further.

"Well, I suggest you guys queue up now before it gets longer. Oh and I want Chocolate Banana."

As the three walked over to the stall, he bent back on the chair, stretching. "Yuuichi said something to you, didn't he." He asked. Reborn and Tsuna remained silent as Amemori replied. "Yeah." Ryuuichi hummed. He didn't ask further since he had already knew what it was, somehow. Yuuichi is his twin brother after all. How could he  _not_  know?

"Well, since my brother had issued a warning, I shall give you my own." The smile he had on his face turned into a rather feral smirk, bloodlust seeping out just from it. "I don't care what it is, but if you were to cause even a  _scratch_  on him, let's just say I won't cause you simply just one  _scratch_."

Amemori stared, surprise flashed in his dark blue eyes before he threw his head back and laughed. "My god. I take my statement back. You  _changed_. And you and your brother are too much alike."

"Of course. We're brothers after all."

Reborn briefly wondered what did Amemori meant by that and if the teen was blind or something. Ryuuichi and Yuuichi are  _nothing_  alike. Sure, there are some similarities, but they are not even the slightest the same. Like how Yin and Yang are. Both seemed similar yet total opposite. If Amemori was Ryuuichi's childhood friend, he should be able to see that difference more than Reborn, or Tsuna, in fact, could.

Hell, even Ryuuichi knew that he and his brother aren't alike.

However, he smirked at the bloodlust. It wasn't usual to see Ryuuichi give a real threat simply like that. Reborn felt the small excitement from the thought of seeing Ryuuichi possibly killing someone even after the warning. If nothing goes wrong, he might just throw Tsuna into the fight between whoever it is and Ryuuichi. He would definitely like to see his student against Ryuuichi.

Tsuna suddenly shuddered, half because of a bad feeling caused by whatever Reborn was planning and the other was caused by Ryuuichi. If a silent Ryuuichi was scary enough when angered, he couldn't say the same to a smiling, amused one. Even if he wasn't the subject to the threat, Tsuna was afraid. Silently, he prayed for Amemori's life should he anger Ryuuichi even after the warning.

Though, he still couldn't shake of the fact that he felt something was off. Actually, everything. He looked at Ryuuichi, who laughed when Reborn offhandedly commented that he was being overprotective, noting how his guard was up even though there was no need for him to. Then again, Amemori was with them. Somehow that explained all.

"I could say the same to you, Reborn." Or maybe not. (Tsuna had a feeling that Ryuuichi was getting more and more sadistic each second he spends time with his tutor.)

"Anyways, do any of you have plans during the break?" He and Amemori (surprisingly) shook their heads. Apparently, Reborn had other thoughts.

"Of course. Its  _Christmas_." Ryuuichi leaned back slightly, mouth twitching. "The tradition, again? Wait, don't answer that. Of course there would be tradition involved with you around." He chuckled, cutting short a moment later when his wallet was placed on top of his head. Looking up, he smiled at his brother who was holding three crepes.

"Here." He took his and passed the other one to Amemori. Gokudera and Yamamoto did the same, passing Reborn and Tsuna theirs before the three of them sat down. "Thanks~" He pocketed his wallet before biting into the crepe, munching. He gazed out the glass window.

"Oh?" He pointed out the window as everyone looked out. "Isn't that the girls?" At the same time, Haru turned to their direction and literally brighten up like a child being informed that Christmas came early. She patted Kyoko and Chrome's shoulder and pointed towards them. They turned and had similar reaction with Haru. It didn't really take them too long to hurried over.

Ryuuichi waved a little and went to pull three more chair to their table, ushering the others to shift closer and give them space.

"Hello!" They greeted back. A split second later, the atmosphere got chattier and brighter with Tsuna asking questions, Gokudera and Haru screaming at each other before it turned to Gokudera and Yamamoto (one-side) argument, and on and on. Yuuichi engaged with Chrome in a soft discussion on who-knows-what while Ryuuichi and Amemori laughed at the comical sight, occasionally whispering jokes.

Somehow, the girls managed to order cakes during their not-so-quiet talks.

"Are you happy here?" Amemori suddenly whispered. Ryuuichi blinked at the question and let out a soft laughter. "Yep." He glanced side way to look at the other. "I hope you are as well." And he turned back to the others when one of them suddenly said jokes about him.

If he didn't, he would have saw the slightly dark look on Amemori.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm, this chapter is a bit, weird?
> 
> I emphasized Yuuichi's and Ryuuichi's relationship more here, somehow. And the overprotective streak they both have and are very well aware of it.
> 
> I had forgotten that Ryuuichi should be calling Yamamoto by his given name since he had received the permission to during chapter 45, or 'Hell Fury'. I totally forgotten about that. Sorry! *doing dogeza*
> 
> Note= I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but Reborn's growing faster than the normal growth time. There's a lot of different thoughts on how old originally was when he was curse and how long and blah blah blah. For me, he kind of started being a hitman by the age of, what, 15? Or something. And then he was cursed when he was 28-29, for 9 years? So during the last arc of the series, he should be mentally.. 37-38? Since Shamal is 35, his age shouldn't far from him, I think.
> 
> This chapter is more of a fill-in, I guess? Things will happen in the next chapter. Though, I need opinions. Should I write the continuation of this chapter, or another new thing?
> 
> Ah btw, they still have a week of school before Winter break. Winter break in Japan is about 10 days? Around 26th of December to 6th of January. But since I have plans for this whole arc during Christmas, I guess it'll be longer..?
> 
> Fun Fact= Yamamoto never really talked much to the twins when they were younger, but they do occasionally played together. Did I mentioned this before? They went to the same primary school together, got closer there, but not exactly as close as they are now. Yamamoto kindda took pride on knowing the twins the longest, so he was a little bit irritated when Amemori said that he was Ryuuichi's childhood friend?
> 
> Umm, last, this chapter is really really weird?!?!!?
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	64. Changing Tides

The bell rang as everyone let out a groan or small cheer. "Alright, class dismiss." As soon as the teacher walked out, the class became noisy. A few immediately rushed out to the canteen for food and some pulled their table together in a group. Ryuuichi ignored all the bustling and stretched feeling a few bones popping.

"Oi Shiro!" He twitched when the said teacher popped in again. "Come help me carry some things. Bring a friend or two to help as well." He replied with a long 'Yes' before turning to his brother. Yuuichi pouted a little and nodded. "Can I help too?" Amemori suddenly asked, smiling.

Ryuuichi merely shrugged and made a beeline to the door, following the teacher as Yuuichi informed Tsuna and the others. "Sure~" The three of them followed the teacher to the office, bowing when they passed by a few other teachers. "Here. Take these to the reception room." Sweating a little, they nodded. Simply to say, the files that the teacher wanted them to take was too many, and all of it looked heavy as hell.

Ryuuichi took the initiative to take the tallest stack and carried it away when Yuuichi protested that he was taking too many. Even Amemori voiced out about it. "It's fine, really. I can manage."

He led the way to the reception room while making small talks with his brother and Amemori. Honestly, he was getting more comfortable with Amemori now. Not like how it was in the past, but it was getting better. Briefly, he wondered if it was because he subconsciously knew that Amemori was Alex. Either that, or he had got used to Amemori's presence.

"Excuse me." He used his legs to opened the door and slowly pushed it in order to not accidentally slam it. Hibari, who was sitting by his desk, looked up. He was somehow playing with Hibird and Roll, or so it seemed in Ryuuichi's eyes. "What is it?"

Ryuuichi shrugged. "Koeda-sensei asked us to deliver these." He made way to the coffee table nonchalantly and placed the files on it, huffing. Yuuichi was a beat behind him and did the same. Blinking, he turned to rather blank-faced Amemori, as though he was in a trance. "Hibiki? What's wrong?"

Snapping out of it, Amemori finally trotted towards the coffee table. "Nothing." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing more. Instead, his attention was diverted when Hibari suddenly came up to his side and opened one of the files. He took a peek and found out that it was the third year students record. "Uwa.. Did they seriously wrote this down?" He pointed at one of the column that apparently wrote the EQ level. "Shouldn't IQ be enough? Then again, should these kind of things be written down at all?"

"No. The teachers were bored on that year, apparently." Ryuuichi made a face. "And you allowed it?" Hibari smirked.

"Don't you think it's interesting?"

"Well, yes. But I don't think these should be taken account of and placing them in the students record which the students  _probably_  need to show to the high school they wanted to get into..? Other than the passing of the entry exam, that is."

Hibari said nothing else other than snorting a little. He ruffled Ryuuichi's hair before placing the file back onto the stack, causing Ryuuichi to yelp.

Amemori and Yuuichi merely stood by the side in silence, watching Ryuuichi yelling at Hibari to stop. Amemori leaned towards Yuuichi's side slightly and whispered. "Are they close? Ah, I mean. The Hibari Kyouya, from what I know, is cold in a sense, so this is kind of surprising for me." He quickly added when Yuuichi gave him a weird out expression.

Yuuichi shrugged. "Somehow. Ryuuichi is probably the one closest to Hibari other than Kusakabe-san." He shoved his hands into his pocket and leaned on one leg. "Actually, it wouldn't be surprising if he suddenly date him or something. We're kind of expecting that, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Reborn and I. Dino and our parents as well."

Amemori hummed and leaned back. "Ryuu. Let's go? Unless you want to stay here and eat with Hibari." The said teen frowned at his brother. "I'm coming." Hibari took his eyes off Ryuuichi and looked at Amemori, locking eyes with him, narrowing, even. Amemori didn't back down, staring back at Hibari with the same intensity the other had gave him.

Ryuuichi noticed. A small smirk appeared before he quickly covered it up with squinted eyes and lips pulled thin. "Are you guys  _undressing_  each other with your eyes?" He made a facade and quickly pulled a guffawing Yuuichi out the room, dodging a tonfa to his head.

"Opps! See ya Hibari!"

Amemori tried to swipe him, only to miss by a few inches. He huffed and followed them out, but not before giving Hibari another glance.

Hibari's eyes were sharp, glinting. He felt the immensely huge urge to bite someone to death.

\--------------------------------------------------------

"Sorry for the wait." Ryuuichi pulled his chair and table over to where Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto was. Usually, they would have lunch on the roof, but it was too cold. He gestured at Amemori, telling him to join them as he sat down. Yuuichi placed his and Ryuuichi's bento down and sat down beside Yamamoto. "What are you guys talking about?" He asked, handing his brother the bento.

"About you guys." Ryuuichi sweated a little. "What?" Yamamoto grinned and turned to Amemori. "Ne, Amemori. What was Ryuuichi like in the past?"

Amemori blinked at the sudden question as he took a bite on the bread. He turned to Ryuuichi, who shrugged and continued eating. "Well, he was similar to you. He, she smiled and laughed a lot, though occasionally silent. She was someone really smart," He ignored the small mumble of 'not really' from Ryuuichi. (Ryuuichi had raised an eyebrow at the pronoun used.)

"She was really open, too open actually, and a great listener and talker. She always knew what to say, and knew how to read between the lines really well. There was this one time when a friend of ours got really unreasonable and I almost punch him. She immediately stopped us, ya know. By shouting on top of her lungs. I was so shocked. I mean, she never really shout much after we got into primary school. It was really amazing, and nostalgic."

He chuckled softly at the memory of a girl scowling at him and another boy, yelling. "In the end, she lectured the both of us to the point we almost cried."

Ryuuichi scoffed, remembering that. "That because you guys are really at wrong."

"Yeah. Sorry. Anyways, she was kind as well, too kind that people took advantage of it. And no, don't argue with me on this again. They  _were_  taking advantage of your kindness. Actually, I could go on all day about her, but all in all, she was really adorable." Amemori laughed when Ryuuichi spluttered. "Well, he's still adorable and all of the above."

Ryuuichi clicked his tongue. "Do you guys know, Hibiki here used to roll in the mud and there was one time he rolled into a ditch."

The others laughed as it was Amemori's turn to puff up like a cat. "I did not-!"

"Oh you definitely did." With a sharp look on both of them, they immediately engaged into a 'dissing each other' competition.

"Well, you cried when your own cousin visited you!"

"In my defence,  _I_  was seven and  _he_  was 18. He practically looked intimidating! Unlike you, you cried when you lost your bunny!"

"That was a present from you, mind you!"

And it continued. Tsuna laughed at a few of the not so subtle insults. 'They were really close, huh...' He mused. At first, he didn't actually believe it. Amemori and Ryuuichi looked so distant, rather than close. It had made him wonder if they were really childhood friend. Granted, even Yamamoto and the twins weren't that close until recently, so he doesn't have much say in it.

'I guess Ryuuichi needed time to open back up.' He smiled.

"You guys looks like a married old couple somehow." Gokudera commented. (The bomber was more daring in saying things like these now, after Ryuuichi literally pushed him down and hold onto him while they browsed the internet about a lot of things the one time he went to their house.)

"What?!" He was taken aback when they turned to them, yelling in unison. "With this idiot? No way." And they turned back to glare at each other. 'You guys really looked like married couple though.' That was the only thing in all of their mind as they sweated slightly. The two had a small staring contest, invisibly electricity crackling.

"Pft-!" Ryuuichi suddenly let out a snort before leaning back on his chair, laughing out loud. Amemori soon joined him after a split second. It took them a moment to stop laughing. "I missed you." Amemori breathed out.

Ryuuichi smiled softly. "Yeah."

"Though, Yato. You and Takeshi looked more like a married couple." And chaos ensured. The rest of the classmates in the classroom stared at them uncomfortably.

\------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi breathed out, small mist forming. He huffed into his cupped hands, rubbing them together. He pulled his sleeves to the point that it covered his whole hands as he stared out of the open window, cold air blowing in. Amemori, who sat on the seat in front of his, looked out as well.

They were both in silence, patiently waiting for the younger twin. Yuuichi had club activities before winter break starts. Since they had, sadly, lost during the second round in Winter Cup, their practice had cut short for all of them to rest. The third years, on the other hand, had retired, so the team decided to have a farewell party sometime around Christmas, they say. Ryuuichi briefly wondered how many party would they have, since this would be the second one. Or was it the third one?

Anyways, Yuuichi and his teammates were discussing of the preparation and such. Seeing that he had nothing much to do, Ryuuichi decided to wait for his brother. Somehow, Amemori stayed as well, not that he minded.

"Aren't you cold?"

He glanced to the other teen for a while before looking out. "Not really. I like the cold." He really do. He closed his eyes as the wind blew once again. It felt really wonderful.

Amemori shifted his stare to Ryuuichi. An image of a girl smiling at him flashed in his eyes. 'He has really changed..' Ryuuichi could literally feel the stare boring holes on him, so he turned to Amemori.

"What?" Amemori was silent for a moment as he stared right into Ryuuichi's eyes. Those dark brown orbs, the gaze, it never really change, but different that the one he,  _she_  held. "Hey. Do you like Hibari?" He took note of the flash of surprise in them, continue to observe.

Ryuuichi blinked. "Yeah. Why?"

"Ah, no. I mean, in a romantic sense." He was stunned for a moment to process that and he quickly looked away, trying to stop the blood rushing up. He buried his mouth at the back of his elbow, leaning against the window frame. He looked out as the gears in his mind turned.

"I.. Don't know." He let out a sigh, muffled. "I know I like him, but I'm not sure if it's  _that_  kind of like." He never really understood love, nor could he differentiate all the different types. It just felt almost similar to him, but he knew there was something different in each one towards everyone. How it was different, Ryuuichi couldn't figure out. Which is why he never tried to think of it, because he knew he could never know.

It made him wonder if he could know which is which one day.

"Do you want to kiss him?" His head shot towards Amemori, eyes wide. "What?" Amemori wasn't fazed by that. Instead, he asked again. "Do you want to kiss him?"

Ryuuichi scowled. "So what if I said yes? It doesn't justify anything. I don't and won't even know what I feel towards him." And he fully turned to the other side, no longer looking at Amemori signifying that it was the end of the conversation. He wasn't comfortable in discussing this kind of things because it only gives him headaches.

Silence fell once again. Ryuuichi's lips were pulled thin as he immediately overwrite the thoughts of the conversation with other things. He tensed when he felt a warm hand on top of his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Pursing his lips at those soft spoken words, he shot back up, glaring at Amemori.

"Next time you pull any more of these, I'm going to punch you." Amemori merely smiled at the half-hearted threat, chuckling as he retracted his hand. "Sure. I'll let you punch."

Ryuuichi made a face before he really reached out and punched the other on the shoulder. "Masochist." He mumbled, but there was a small smile on his face. Deciding to change the subject, he told Amemori to tell about his life so far in this world.

"I was born into a family of six, excluding me. I'm the second son, and the third of the siblings."

"That's a big family you got there."

Amemori laughed, quite fondly, Ryuuichi would say. "I knows, but it's merry. My older sister, the first one, is currently working in Tokyo as a clerk. My older brother is in University, at Osaka. My youngest siblings are currently in Elementary school, in Kyoto. My father works in Kyoto while my mother is a housewife."

Ryuuichi hummed. "Wait, does that mean you're living alone now?"

"Yep. I was born in Kyoto anyway. I transferred here early this year as a hunch. And I'm really glad I did." He silently watched the other, smiling at some kind nostalgic memory, or so Ryuuichi though it was. He can't read mind after all.

He merely nodded and looked back out, rubbing his hands together again, fiddling with his ring a moment. The metal was surprisingly warm against his cold hand, his bracelet where his three animal partners are, loose on his wrist. Maybe he should really close the window now.

"Ryuu!" He turned around to see a panting Yuuichi by the door. "Did you run?" Yuuichi took a minute to calm his breathing, nodding. "Yeah. Who wouldn't when you have a demon chasing you anyway." He grumbled, leaning against the door frame. "Shall we go? Need to stop by the gift shop though."

Ryuuichi stood up and closed the window. He picked up his back pack from the ground and turned to Amemori. "Let's go?" With a short confirmation, they walked out of the classroom.

\-----------------------------------------------------

"...-nd, they wanted to buy pies to throw it at the seniors. I'm alright with it, but then our captain got crazy and decided to have a pie throwing competition out of the sudden. I didn't want to participate though. I heard that they will put in tons of disgusting things into the pie. And somehow one of them suggested to use whipping cream instead of pie because pies are expensive or other crap."

Yuuichi rambled on as the older twin laughed uncontrollably, Amemori chuckling beside him. They were heading to the gift shop by the shopping district. Yuuichi was assigned to buy the gifts for the third years, other than the secret Santa thing they had. It was rather fortunate for him to be assigned with this task, since his other teammates were assigned with decorations, pranks, games and such, which, in Yuuichi's words, troublesome as heck. Honestly, Ryuuichi felt that their party would be a bit too extravagant.

Oh well, as long as they have fun.

Ryuuichi coughed a bit to regain control of his laughter, looking out onto the road. There were quite a lot of vehicles around. It's not as much as Tokyo or any other congested areas, but it was still considered a lot in Namimori.

'It's really peaceful..'

"A penny for your thought, Ryuuichi?" He jolted when Reborn suddenly appeared beside him, walking alongside. He huffed. "Please don't do that again. Wait, never mind. I doubt you will listen anyway." He shook his head.

Reborn was amused. "Where are you guys going?" Ryuuichi slowed down, lingering behind Amemori and Yuuichi as he talked to Reborn, who followed his pace. "A gift shop, apparently. You?"

"Who knows. Perhaps I'm stalking you." The hitman smirked.

"What?"

He almost chuckled evilly at the look from Ryuuichi at his words, but he didn't. Instead, he cocked his head to the side and glanced up at Ryuuichi, dark black eyes glinting. "What do you think of caves?"

Ryuuichi leaned back slightly, away from Reborn. "Caves?" He had a bad feeling about this. It was either the hitman wanted his thoughts on Tsuna's training ground, or that he wanted to drag Ryuuichi to these places along with the brunette. Both thoughts dread him slightly, but he hoped that it was the former one. Sorry, Tsuna. (Though, if it was the latter, he would have no choice but to comply. At least he would learn new things and train. Probably.)

"Yep!" Okay, definitely not good. "Umm, no preference? I've never been into one, and I don't think I want to." He added quickly.

"Hehhhh~" The glint was still in Reborn's eyes, much to Ryuuichi's chagrin.

He laughed nervously and looked away. He gazed ahead to the road beyond the pedestrian crossing he and the others were passing by, he noticed a truck driving in a rather fast speed. Too fast for his liking. Frowning, he looked to the traffic light, which was red for the pedestrian crosser and was slightly relief. It wouldn't be good if anyone was crossing with that kind of driver on the road.

He jinxed it

"Wait- Come back!" He snapped his head back to the road at the loud shout and saw a kid, perhaps six, on the road, trotting. And the truck was getting nearer. His eyes widen as his heart leaped. Before his brain could catch up with what was happening, he was already running.

"O-oi! Ryuu?!"

He pushed aside the crowd by the road side and ran towards the kid. Loud honks from the truck deafened him, but at that moment, it was like a white noise to him. He reached out for the kid and curled around her, shielding her from the incoming impact. He hold onto her, eyes sealed tightly as horrified screams echoed.

And everything turned black.

" _ **RYUUICHI!!**_ "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm, should I run? I'm sorry!!
> 
> Don't worry! He'll survive! Really! Please don't think to much to the point of can't concentrate.
> 
> For those who doesn't know, EQ is emotional quotient, or emotional intelligence. It was just a hunch for me to put this in so, yeah.
> 
> Emmm, Amemori talked using the pronoun 'She' because, honestly Ryuuichi is much different than his past self. Do. I. Need. To. Emphasize. This. Any. MorE?! <\--- Excuse me for being crazy a bit. I confused myself shit ton of time when I wrote something about Ryuuichi's past and all and .
> 
> Okay, about the basketball, I'll explain to those who didn't get the system. For Winter Cup, the first stage is Preliminaries, second; Final league, third; Winter Cup itself which consist of 3 rounds and lastly, the Finals, which consist of quarter-final, semi-final and final itself.
> 
> Preliminaries are held in each prefecture. Only 2 teams can represent a prefectures. Only the top 8 teams from Interhigh (The match before Winter Cup. If I'm not wrong, it's held during the summer.) can participate the preliminaries. Preliminaries is kindda like, choosing the best of four from the determination match. Like, A vs B, C vs D. A wins, advance. C wins, advance. Something like that.
> 
> And those team which won, goes into the Final League, also a part of the preliminaries but let's just, separate them. Um, so It's kindda like 4 teams against each other. You know, the Probability table from Math? It's that kind of system? Um, get my drift?
> 
> Anyways! The Winter Cup and Finals is similar to the beginning of the preliminaries. Yeah. It's a bit confusing, I know. I'm getting a headache here from all these as well. (Source? Obviously it from the KNB wikia because I'm lazy to search up everything.)
> 
> Okay, again. I'm really sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'm not sorry about what I wrote there. *runs*
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	65. Please Wake Up

It was as though everything stopped at that moment. It was as though time had froze just for him. And yet, he couldn't stop anything from happening. He  _couldn't_. His eyes goes wide the moment the truck hit Ryuuichi and the girl. His brother's name ripped out of in terror, his heart beating against his rib cage, his ears, loudly. His body ran cold at the sight of his brother rolling on the floor lifelessly, never letting go of the child.

'No. Nononono _n **oNO!**_ ' He stumbled, pushing away the crowd and rushed to Ryuuichi. Falling onto his knees, he tried to shook his brother awake.

"Ryuuichi!! Oi! Open your eyes!" His hands were trembling against his brother's shoulder, desperate. He wanted his brother's eyes to open. He wanted him to stop sleeping. Everything was red. The thick red puddle of blood growing bigger each second passed, his hands and pants soaked in it.

"Ryuu! Ryuu-nii! Please!" He tried again, shaking harder. A pair of hands tugged him back, holding him away from Ryuuichi. He struggled. "No! Let me go! Ryuu! Wake up!" He tried to hit his way out, but the one holding him back was too strong. (Or is it that he had no more energy.)

And someone slapped him. "Snap out of it!" It was Reborn. He wasn't panicking.  _Why wasn't he panicking? Why?!_  "Don't shake him. We don't know the extend of his injuries. You might just make it worse." His voice are hard, but it was slightly shaken. He immediately turned back to the unconscious Ryuuichi, blood flowing down his forehead. He clicked his tongue and summoned his flames.

He paid no heed to the child as a woman pulled her away from Ryuuichi's tight grip, now slacken. The child wasn't that much injured other than some deep cuts and a potential sprain arm since Ryuuichi had shield off most of the impact. "Call the ambulance! Hurry!"

Reborn is by no means, a hitman who had seen a lot of this world. He experienced a lot of things more than anyone could ever imagine, accidents included. However, this marked as the first time someone he's rather closed with get involved in an accident. It had shook him more than he expected.

'Hang in there, Ryuuichi!'

He gritted his teeth and pulled out more of his flames from his core, ignoring the fact that there were civilians around. It's not like they could see his flames from how he had covered it anyway.

Amemori kept his hold on Yuuichi, face pale as he took in Ryuuichi's condition. His grip didn't loosen even after Yuuichi stopped struggling. He wondered at the back of his mind if he did that to help Yuuichi, or was it for himself. He swallowed audibly.

It didn't take the ambulance too long to arrive, yet it seemed like years in Yuuichi's eyes. He couldn't catch up with whatever was happening, but when he managed to register it, he was already at the hospital, sitting by one of the chairs outside the ER room. His mind was numb, his bloodied hands couldn't stop shaking.

The image of a very pale Ryuuichi, wearing an oxygen mask with the paramedic shouting things that he didn't understand flashed in his mind. And everything hit him. A choked cry slipped out of as he quickly covered it, tears spilled out before he could even stop it.

It got harder to breathe. It was so hard. He gasped, burying his face in his hands. A pair of hands grabbed his face, lifting it up. He still couldn't breathe. (Breathe, breathebreathe _ **breathe!**_ )

"..-Calm down, Yuuichi!" His eyes widen, sight cleared. His breath stopped as he took in the furrowed eyebrows, the brown eyes flashing in orange, the lips pulling thin. Since when Tsuna arrived? "Calm down, Yuuichi. Focus on me. Focus on my voice." He did as told. When did Tsuna got so matured? When did that happen?

"Alright. Breathe. Come on. In," He a mouthful of air. "Out. In. Out." He continued, listening to the voice and followed the pace. He did it until his breathing went back to normal. "It'll be alright, you hear me?" He nodded. "Ryuuichi is strong. Everything will be alright. Breathe, Yuuichi.  _Breathe_."

' _Everything will be alright_.' The words echoed in his mind. His brother's voice echoed alongside with Tsuna's. He focused on that. He focused on breathing, oxygen into his system. He focused with just that.

Tsuna smiled in relief upon seeing the light in Yuuichi's eyes again. He ran here when he got a call from Reborn. His tutor's voice was surprisingly hard and edgy as he informed Tsuna what had happen. He had immediately told Gokudera and Yamamoto about it as he rushed over.

His heart stopped the moment he heard that. His intuition had been blaring a few moments before the call. (Too late. It went off  _too late_.) It was the same as the time Yamamoto got admitted into the hospital. His own flames was tugging painfully in him as well. Who would have imagine Ryuuichi getting into an accident.

He sat down beside Yuuichi and pulled him into a side-way hug, grabbing his shoulders tightly. He glanced towards Amemori, who was sitting by the other corner. The teen seemed out of the world at the moment, but Tsuna knew he would be alright. The light, the  _fire_  in his eyes haven't lost yet. It wouldn't  _disappear_.

He bit his lips, trying to calm himself down before he turned to Reborn, who sat at the opposite. "What happened exactly?"

".. A child ran out onto the middle of the street when there was a truck moving at a fast speed. Ryuuichi saw and immediately went to save her. She's alright. No other injuries other than a few scratches and sprained arm. Ryuuichi had covered most of the impact for her."

He nodded stiffly. It was understandable. Ryuuichi would never forgive himself if he didn't do anything. Hell if Tsuna himself was in that situation, he would do the same thing as well. Yet, the thought of Ryuuichi...

'No. Everything will be alright.'

"Did you inform Dino-san and his parents?" Reborn nodded. "Yeah. They're taking the next flight back from Italy."

"What is going on here?" They turned to look at the newcomer, to see Hibari standing there, dark aura seeping out. Behind him by few steps were Gokudera and Yamamoto. "Tsuna! How's Ryuu?!" "Is he alright?!" The brunette gave the two a grim look and shook his head. "He's still in the ER."

They scowled, concern visibly on every inch of their body. Gokudera punched a wall and cursed out loud in many different languages he knew. Yamamoto wasn't as cheery as he was, lips pulled thin. They looked torn between wanting to cry out loud and scream, and just wanting to deny everything. Sucking in a breath, Yamamoto walked up to Tsuna and Yuuichi and sat down on Yuuichi's other side. He too, pulled the younger twin into a tight side-way embrace.

Tsuna smiled at that and turned back to the prefect. "Um, why are you here, Hibari-san?"

"A member of the committee informed me of an accident involving Nami-Middle student.  _Who is it_?" Hibari's voice was hard and deadly silent. Under normal circumstances, it would make the strongest yakuza pee in his pants but, Tsuna just couldn't muster the energy to be terrified.

"Ryuuichi." The prefect's eyes widen as he bared his teeth. " _What_?" Tsuna bit his lower lips again. "It's Ryuuichi."

Something flashed in Hibari's eyes, but Tsuna didn't know what it was. Perhaps it was disbelief, perhaps it was denial. Instead of saying anything else, he silently watched Hibari.

Hibari hands twitched slightly. He wanted to pull his tonfa out, or was it that he wanted to clench his hands to the point it bleed? At that moment Hibari didn't know what to do. Not for the first time, however, he felt at lost. 'He'll be alright.' Closing his eyes for a moment, he regained his own composure. Ryuuichi is strong. Hibari knew that very well. He's strong. He'll make it through.

His grey eyes snapped open, flashing. Looking over to the Yuuichi, the small animal's brother. There was blood on his shirt, no doubt Ryuuichi's blood. Hibari had to restrain himself from losing his cool at that thought. "Shiroki Yuuichi."

Yuuichi tensed up. Good, which meant that he was listening to Hibari. (The prefect hates to repeat himself.) "That small animal will be fine. He's strong." With that, he walked away. To who knows where, none of them knew. What they understood was, that Hibari still need time to fully recollect himself.

A new fire lit up in them. This is Ryuuichi they're talking about. He'll be alright.

Yuuichi looked at his hands again and found that they were no longer trembling. Clenching them, he pulled himself together. He couldn't lose to his brother after all. He need to be strong as well, for his brother's sake and for his own.

\------------------------------------------------------

All of them sat there for hours. How long, they had lost count. (Yamamoto had took the chance to drag Yuuichi to the toilet to wash up and change. Yuuichi had brought his P.E attire all along.) They got more and more impatient as seconds passed into minutes, minutes into hours. It shouldn't even be that long, but it dragged. Why, they didn't know.

It was like eternity until the doctor suddenly came out, looking absolutely ragged. There were blood on him, dried. All of them, minus Hibari who merely stood up from where he was seated at, practically leaped out of their chair and gathered around the doctor.

"How's my brother?!"

The doctor pulled down his mask, a small, tired smile on. "The surgery was successful." A collective sighs of relief was heard. "He had a blood transfusion from severe bleeding, several broken ribs and torn ligaments. His forehead needed a few stitches from a rather deep cut. Fortunately, his back and spinal cord are alright. By some miracle, his back pack had soften the most of the impact against his back bones. However,"

The perked into attention at that. "He suffered from a major concussion. If he doesn't wake up under 36 hours, he might fall into a coma. Any other effect from it is unknown until he wakes up."

Reborn nodded solemnly. "Can we see him now?" "Yes, but please be cautious not to create a commotion." A nurse came out, holding Ryuuichi's belongings and handed them to Yuuichi, who looked like he was going to have a relapse of hyperventilating from the thought of Ryuuichi going into coma. It was Yamamoto grabbing his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze that he didn't.

He nodded stiffly and took a grasp of it. It was Ryuuichi's wallet, phone, watch, the bo stick, his ring and the bracelet. All of it felt cold, yet the ring and bracelet were warm. Softly pulsing. Like as though Ryuuichi was still wearing it, still lighting his flames. He didn't knew much about the flame and didn't really understand it even after Ryuuichi explained and showed him.

But he knew one thing. Ryuuichi mentioned that the flame will always be lit until one dies. Flames are the resolve to fight, and to  _live_.

Yuuichi let out a choked chuckle, smiling in relief. Relief that Ryuuichi is still  _alive_. He didn't care if he goes into coma or whatsoever, because Yuuichi will wait for his brother forever.

Tsuna was bonded with Ryuuichi through their flames, similar to how Enma and Dino is. He could feel the flames in him,  _Ryuuichi's_  flames in him. He knew that he's alright, for it is flaring alongside with his. (Speaking of Enma, he should inform the red head. No doubt Enma could feel the tug.)

All of them went into the ward Ryuuichi was admitted and immediately narrowed their eyes on the teen lying unconscious on the bed. His head was bandaged, and he looked pale. Very pale. Too pale for their liking. He was breathing through the oxygen mask, the constant beeping signify that his heart is beating. Yuuichi immediately sat down beside the bed on a plastic chair, his stuff was placed aside.

Careful not to jostle the IV drip, he took ahold of Ryuuichi's right hand and held his finger by the wrist. The small thumping of the pulse calmed him down. 'Wake up, alright?' His eyelids felt heavier until he fell asleep almost immediately beside Ryuuichi's bed, still holding his hand.

A blanket was placed on his back as the others smiled softly, albeit exhausted. Compare to them, Yuuichi had it the hardest. The younger twin will always be the closest to Ryuuichi after all. This incident probably took a heavy toll on him. Amemori let out a shaky sigh, staring at Ryuuichi's face.

He looked longer, as though waiting for it to twitch. After a full minute, he turned away. It was rather unbearable for him. Ryuuichi was hit by a truck in front of his eyes. Why wouldn't that be unbearable? More importantly, why wasn't he that much shaken than he thought he would? ( _"Hey, if I were to get into an accident, will you be sad?" "What?! Don't jinx yourself dammit! I would be enraged. If you ever get into an accident, I'll beat the living daylight out of you, alright?"_ )

"Amemori." He blinked, snapping out of his stupor and turned to Gokudera, who looked equally shaken. He briefly wondered if the bomber had any kind of close relationship with Ryuuichi. ('.. I know nothing about him now, do I?')

"Out. It's really late now. Go back and come tomorrow morning after you rest. We'll take care of things now." His gaze drifted from Gokudera to Yamamoto, to Tsuna, to Reborn and lastly to Hibari. All of them held similar looks. All tired yet wouldn't leave.

'Ah. They don't trust me.' It was a given. He had, after all, popped out one day and claimed that he was Ryuuichi's childhood friend. Even if Ryuuichi trust him, (To an extend anyway.) they don't. It was clearly a given. He had expected that. Knowing that whatever he do, they would tell him to go back, he complied. He had no desire to argue with them about this at this kind of atmosphere. Besides, it was practically midnight now.

He nodded. He walked up to Ryuuichi's side, careful not to jostle anything, and gently stroeked the teen's head wordlessly. Leaning down, he placed a fleeting peck on his forehead before walking out of the room. The others followed suit and everyone was out the room, leaving the twins alone. (They almost jump at Amemori for what he did, however.) Even Hibari was out. (They had half expected that he would stay.)

Walking down the hallway with his back towards them, his eyes glinted in red for a moment.

They watched Amemori's back disappear from a corner before looking away. Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto slumped against the chair, sitting not really that far away, but there was a small distance. Reborn and Hibari sat the farthest seat from them. Reborn had his face shadowed by his fedora. None of them could see whether he was asleep, or not.

Hibari, on the other hand, had his eyes closed, arms and legs crossed. They would be an idiot if they were to think that he's asleep. Hibari was definitely awake. When Hibari saw how frail Ryuuichi looked like, he finally realized that how easily it is for someone to die. He used to not care about it, hitting and beating people to hell. He didn't even care if he endangered himself, always pushing himself to the limit, exceeding it.

He used to not care about lives. But now, it dreads him. (He can now understand why Ryuuichi was so adamant on wanting to patch him up after a fight of sort.)

Hibari didn't knew that there would be a day that he would even care about anyone in their possible death bed, but he hated that thought upon seeing Ryuuichi like that. When did Ryuuichi wormed his way into his heart again? When did the rest of them wormed his way into his heart? Why hadn't he all that earlier?

Even so, that wasn't the point now. Now, all he could do is wait.

Not opening his eyes at all, he tugged back at the bond connected all of them slightly, flames pulsing.

\------------------------------------------------------

_The scenery was as usual, yet calming. Mukuro likes it. He likes how this place, where only he (and Chrome, sometimes) could see. His own secret place where he would retreat back into after a day, or after the haunting memories of his past. It's serene and a secret, just the way he likes it._

_He was staring aimlessly at the grass filled land, the wind blowing softly against his skin. The tree leaves rustling. Pushing a hair back, he turned around to the small river where clear water flows slowly. His eyes widen in surprise upon sight of a certain teen in front of him._

_"How did you get here-" He jolted when the teen fell into his arms limply, he instinctively held the other up. He frowned and was about to push away the teen, but stopped upon the words from the other. A small smirk appeared on his lips._

_"Of course." With that he encaged the other in his arms._

His heterochromia eyes snapped open to the familiar ceiling of the abandoned Kokuyo Land, sprawled on the tattered couch. He pushed himself up and looked out of the window to the rather starry night sky.

Mukuro smirked, eyes glinting against the darkness. He pushed his bangs up and fell back onto the couch. "This should be interesting." Chuckling to himself, he made a mental note to give the oh so merry group a visit as he went back to sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhum, this chapter is like, a jumbled up pile of crap?! And it's mostly about, *flail hands* I don't know. I didn't even managed to hit 3K with this chapter, but oh well.
> 
> One thing, he won't fall into coma, don't worry. And yes, Mukuro is somehow involved in this arc. I felt that the times I wrote about him was too little. And Damn, what is with me and these dark characters?! 
> 
> So, about the flames. I think it was mentioned that Ryuuichi had taught slash showed Yuuichi the flames, and such? Yeah. So, since Yuuichi had seen it, he could briefly feel it.
> 
> Along with that topic, I would like to bring up the bond thingy. I mean, I confused myself yet again for the nth time with it. Um, so, Ryuuichi, Tsuna, Enma and Dino had this bond between the four of them, since they're all sky and an gravity flame user. That comes along with the fact that they're allied? I think?
> 
> And then the bond between the Ryuuichi, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Hibari, Reborn, and possibly Mukuro are slightly different. It's similar, but different. However, however! Yamamoto, Gokudera, Hibari and Mukuro are Tsuna's. They're Tsuna's guardians and Tsuna's their sky. That will never change. Reborn is, well, more bonded with Tsuna, and can be considered under Tsuna's sky flames thingy or something something. The bond between Ryuuichi and them are, yes, through flames as well, but no. Ryuuichi can never and never want to take Tsuna's place as their sky. Why? Those dudes and Tsuna had already claimed each other. (FLAMES! THROUGH FLAMES NOT-)
> 
> They still could feel Ryuuichi through the bond though, occasionally. When they're hyper-aware of each other. (P/S= The bonds between certain character and Ryuuichi might change somehow, but not much.)
> 
> Ryuuichi and Yuuichi's bond, on the other hand, was totally different. Their bond wasn't developed in their teens, but ever since they're born. Their twin brothers after all. It's like, a thousand metal rods. (Strange metaphor, I know. I'm going to kill myself with all these metaphors and such. Dammit.) Just recently, their bond got more, tighter?, after Yuuichi knew all that and with Ryuuichi's flame actively claim Yuuichi's as his.
> 
> Note= Ryuuichi, Sakura and Kei's bond is like, not really established yet since they aren't usually home, and Ryuuichi doesn't really look for them for things and such much? Yeah. But it's there though, the bond. Just not strong enough.
> 
> Note= The bonds can be severed but it'll do a shit ton of damage to one, mentally, depending on how deep the bond is. Example, if you sever the twins' bond, they'll die. Not physical death, but mental death. WHY WOULD ANYONE CUT THEIR BOND ANYWAY!?! YOU CAN'T EVEN CUT IT?! (<\-- Send major help pls.)
> 
> Oh and the bonds have things to do with the flames---- I'm confusing myself again AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
> 
> Probably will explain more later but UGH.
> 
> This chapter is seriously a pile of confusing crap. I shit you not, I almost give myself a headache with all this confusing shit. Too many shit here. Figuratively, and literally.
> 
> RIGHHHTTT!! I almost forgot.
> 
> Sooo, about the impact thing against his back and the so-called miracle from the doctor, it's because Ryuuichi had instinctively put up the cloud shield the fudging last minute. Albeit it didn't fully block off the impact but, but it did absorb most of it. Which is whyy, he's not crippled or anything. (*sob* I can't bear the thought of Ryuuichi being crippled. orz *sob*)
> 
> ^Umm, or take it as Kuro kindda did something? Idk.
> 
> I think I need to punch something from all these. 
> 
> Sorry for the confusion here!
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	66. Cliche Awakening

Sakura's old habit of biting her nails came back as she anxiously sat in the car, looking out at the window. She wanted nothing but for the car to move faster. She have been enduring it for 13 hours, and she couldn't stand it anymore. She wanted to be with her sons, her babies. She wanted to hold them so badly that it hurt.

Kei wasn't doing any better. He was anxious as well. He had almost broke his phone after receiving the call from Dino. He and Sakura were basically at the other side of the country in Italy, on a mission of getting information. He had practically threw aside everything and drove to the airport where Dino and Romario were waiting, almost getting into an accident if not for his years of driving skills and training.

However, as much as he wanted to panic, he have faith in his sons. He knew that they'll be alright, that they'll hang on until he and Sakura reach them.

Glancing towards Sakura, he pushed down his own emotions and grabbed her hands, holding them down. He moved closer until their shoulders were touching. He squeezed her hands, telling her that he is there for her, that he's just as scared as she is, that he believe in his sons.

Sakura bit her lip instead, but stopped soon after. She interlaced their hands and squeezed back.

Dino looked at them through the head mirror before looking away, giving them their privacy. He leaned against the head rest, fingers tapping against his thigh. He seemed calm minus the eyes that kept shifting. Yet he was, by no means, trying to grasp the bond more firmly, trying to hold onto it as long as he can. He could feel the warmth, but he still attempted to reach out for it more.

Shifting his gaze from the window to his hands, he clicked his tongue. "Romario, how long?"

The man's eyes never left the road as he stepped on it, clearly not giving a damn about the traffic regulation. (Dino was the one who told him to break it anyway.) "Almost."

With a sharp turn, he hit the break slowly and the car came to a stop in front of Namimori hospital. Before he could say anything at all, the three practically leaped out of the car. Romario sighed and shook his head. He understood that they're worried, but anyhow worried they are, they couldn't do anything much anyway.

'Well, they love Ryuuichi after all.' He yawned slightly and drove away to find parking first. Making a mental note to cancel the meeting Dino had, he huffed. There would certainly be a major headache since the Familgia is a troublesome one. Romario decided that he really need a drink. Maybe after visiting Ryuuichi.

\-----------------------------------------------

Yuuichi smiled sheepishly and accepted the hot tea from Tsuna. "Are you sure you don't want to eat anything? It's not good, you know. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday, have you?"

He shook his head. "I'm alright. Really." Tsuna frowned. It was really concerning. Yuuichi hadn't ate anything at all and when he offered to buy some food for him, he refused, claiming that he has no appetite. Honestly it wouldn't do good if he collapse out of hunger because he didn't want to eat. Tsuna wondered how did Ryuuichi deal with this stubborn Yuuichi.

"Ryuuichi will kick you if you don't eat." He offered a small smile to Yuuichi as he looked at the brunette with wide eyes. "He'll beat the daylight out of you." Yuuichi burst laughed softly, nodding. "He will, won't he." He looked to his brother, still unconscious. Ryuuichi's chest was steadily moving up and down.

Biting his lips, he sighed. Bringing the cup to his lips, he slowly sipped the hot tea, only to burn his tongue when the door slammed open suddenly. He brought it away and placed it on the table beside him, fanning his tongue as he looked at the trio at the door. His eyes widen again upon seeing his parents by the door, looking absolutely frantic with Dino behind them.

"Yuuichi!" In a blink of an eye, Sakura and Kei had engulfed him into a tight embrace. He immediately relaxed into the familiar pair of arms and clutched onto them. Sakura was sobbing, unable to control it anymore. Kei stayed in silent, bringing them into his arms more, a grim look on his face.

Tsuna looked at them before turning to Dino. The man was sporting eye bags, very visible from where he was seating. He stood up from the chair and walked up to the blonde man. Dino gave him a tired smile, ruffling his hair before turning to look at Ryuuichi. Tsuna glanced at them for a moment before walking out, closing the door behind him.

Sighing, he leaned against the door. He felt absolutely exhausted even not doing anything. Unlike the time with Yamamoto, he didn't have anything to cling on other than the fact Ryuuichi had an accident. An  _accident_. He felt  _so_ helpless. Ryuuichi had helped him a lot in many different ways. The first was when they were kids. Ryuuichi's words had encouraged him. Those very words had him clinging onto life. (Also partly because of Nana, but mostly because of Ryuuichi's words.)

If he didn't say those words, Tsuna might not have lived this long.

Blinking away the invisible tears, he took a deep breath. He need to be strong. "Juudaime!" He looked towards the hallway and saw Gokudera and Yamamoto, one holding a plastic bag and the other holding a three-tier bento wrapped in a black cloth. "Is everything alright, Tsuna?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Dino-san and Ryuuichi's parents just arrived." An understanding 'ah' was heard from them. Gokudera and Yamamoto had went to grab some food and drinks for them as Tsuna and Yuuichi stayed. Hibari was gone in the morning, but they knew that the prefect wouldn't be far away. Reborn wasn't around either when they realize it. The hitman had probably went back to inform Nana about his stay or whatsoever.

Yamamoto rubbed the back of his neck. "Then lets wait outside?" Gokudera grunted and took a seat on the row of chairs outside the ward before Tsuna and Yamamoto follow suit.

Gokudera fiddled with the watch in his pocket, the watch Ryuuichi had given to him. He had been itching for a smoke from all the stress, but held back when he remembered of Ryuuichi. The teen had suggested him to slowly quit smoking. Ryuuichi  _suggested_ , not  _ask_  nor  _force_. It was the first for him. There were quite a lot of people telling him to stop smoking, but Ryuuichi suggested. With his exact words;

_"If you want to continue smoking, it's your choice. I can't do anything about it. It's your life anyway. Just remember that I want to live longer with you. I want to see you smile even at old age."_

It had Gokudera slowly stop smoking. He, too, wants to live longer with not just Tsuna, but with Ryuuichi as well. (And Yamamoto and the rest of the family, but he rather not admit it lest he suffer their teasing.) It was really hard at first, but seeing Tsuna and Ryuuichi's smiles was worth it.

And when Gokudera heard that Ryuuichi got into an accident, his heart literally shattered.

'Stupid Ryuuichi. Why did you endanger your life even after you told me not to..' He knew, that Ryuuichi did it to save a kid. Honestly, if it was anyone in Ryuuichi's shoes at that moment, they would probably do it as well. Even Gokudera himself. But at this moment, he couldn't help but resent Ryuuichi for that.

A pat on his shoulder broke him out of his trance and he turned to Tsuna, who looked very concern. He quickly regain his composure and smiled at the brunette. "Is there something you need, Juudaime?" The concern in Tsuna's eyes didn't disappear, however.

"Gokudera-kun, don't hide it."

Gokudera turned into a gaping fish for a moment. He gritted his teeth, and before he knew it, he was pulled down. His head landed on Tsuna's shoulder and the hand shifted to his head, gently combing his hair. Another hand joined Tsuna's on his head, Yamamoto's.

For once, he didn't pull away from the baseball-idiot's grip.

The three basked in each other's warmth, their flames singing.

\-----------------------------------------------

Sometime in the evening, Amemori had came over for a moment. He didn't went into the room to look at Ryuuichi after knowing that his parents were in there, though. Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto joined force with Sakura and Kei managed to finally coax Yuuichi to eat. Dino had left to deal with the boss of an opposing Famiglia through the phone after Romario mentioned that the said Don was unhappy. How was the blonde able to deal with it through the phone, Tsuna didn't know. (He had overheard Dino's conversation when he went out for a breather. Dino's voice was  _hard_  and sharp as he reprimand the Don over the phone in a not so subtle way. Serve that idiot Don right. Dino will never abandon his family no matter what, sworn or blood.)

Time went by faster than they expected and it was morning soon after. Dino had managed to get Yuuichi and his parents to return home for a rest somehow, with the blonde himself looking after Ryuuichi. He even managed to get Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto away. (That, and Reborn had pulled them out of the room, telling them to attend school despite being the last two days before winter break for the twins. There was a lot of protests but a look from the hitman shut them up.)

Rubbing his eyes as the sun shone into the room, Dino yawned. He stretched and sighed upon hearing the bones popping. The chair he had sat on was really uncomfortable. He ruffled his hair and looked at Ryuuichi. A soft smile tugged on his lips as he reached over and pushed a stray hair away from Ryuuichi's face, cupping his cheek.

Ryuuichi's cheek was cold against his hand, but then again, Ryuuichi's body temperature has always been low.

"Wake up soon, alright?" He whispered. "Everyone's waiting."

The door slide open and he took his hand away, turning Yuuichi. "Mom said that you should eat before she personally drag you down to the cafeteria, for what you did yesterday." Laughing at that, he nodded. Sakura can be quite scary when she wants to after all. He stood up from the chair and walked over to Yuuichi and pulled the younger male along as well.

"Well, we shouldn't make her wait." And he closed the door behind him. If he had stayed a second longer, he would have noticed the slight twitch of Ryuuichi's fingers.

\-----------------------------------------------

Hibari walked into the room moments after Dino closed the door and silently walked up to Ryuuichi. He lifted his hands slowly to the teen's hand, ghosting over it before grasping it. He noted that it was cold, exposed to the cold air far too long. He gently rubbed it. Hibird suddenly flew in from the door and landed on both his and Ryuuichi's hand.

It tilted it's head, jumping a few times before flying up and landed on his head. It suddenly sang out loud the Namimori Middle anthem, probably an attempt to wake the unconscious teen up. A small smile graced his lips at that. He looked to Ryuuichi's face once more.

Ryuuichi looked so peaceful for some reason. Hibari didn't know why, it unsettled him somehow. Giving Ryuuichi's hand a squeeze, he slowly let go, lingering slightly. He gave him one more look before he turned around and walked out of the room, sensing that the others were coming back.

\-----------------------------------------------

Amemori stiffen right at the door at the sight of three animals in the room, all curled up near Ryuuichi. He turned to Yuuichi, who gave him a rather exasperated smile before turning back to the animals. "They're Kuro, Shiro and Sora. Ryuuichi's partners." 'Ah.' He nodded and walked nearer to the bed, only to stop when Kuro suddenly lifted his head and looked at him, staring straight into his eyes.

Yuuichi tilted his head at that. The three animals had somehow appeared suddenly and wouldn't leave Ryuuichi's side no matter what they do. It made him wonder why would Kuro even pay attention to Amemori even when he ignored most of them when they got near Ryuuichi.

Amemori momentarily lifted his leg slightly, testing the water. Kuro noticed the movement and growled lowly. (How was a panther cub able to grow that low was beyond them.) Amemori stopped, Kuro dropped the growl, but still watching the teen intently. He helplessly looked at the younger twin, not knowing what to do, nor what he had done.

"Kuro." The black panther cub looked at Yuuichi. "Don't." It was clear that he wasn't pleased at that, but he backed down. His eyes were still on Amemori though. Amemori gave Yuuichi a grateful smile and slowly walked to the bed.

He sighed in relief internally. Ryuuichi's color were slowly returning to his looks. It was a good sign. Just as he was about to grab Ryuuichi's hands, he noticed a twitch.

His eyes widen as he froze there. Yuuichi, who saw it as well stood up. Dino, Sakura and Kei looked at them in wonder from one corner of the room.

There was another one. And another. Soon, the fingers curled up into a loose fist. "H-he's moving!" They rushed over and look as well. There were movements under Ryuuichi's eyelids.

Dark brown, hazy eyes were slowly seen.

\------------------------------------------------

It was loud. Too loud for her liking. And bright. Why was it so bright? Everything looked hazy and she couldn't seem to register the shouts.

"Ryuuichi? Ryuu, can you hear me?" Ryuuichi? She looked over to a teen, a boy, looking as though he wanted to cry. Why does he want to cry?

Better question. Where is she? What happened? She felt as though she had crashed into a wall a thousand times non-stop. Her head hurts and her body felt numb. She tried to move her right hand, and felt something taped to it. And then she realized that she was wearing a mask, rather heavy.

"Shiroki-san, can you hear me?" A same question was heard, but from someone else. A man dressed in white coat, a stethoscope hung on his neck. She blinked slowly, signifying that she could before wondering who was this Shiroki. The man, a doctor perhaps (-Why was there a doctor?), smiled rather happily.

He did a few test on her, asking a few questions before turning back to the teen and, three other adults. The tall blonde seemed familiar in her eyes, however. "He's alright."

Blinking a few time to clear her eyesight, she frowned a little. She opened in attempt to speak, only for the oxygen mask to disrupt, much to her dismay. Fortunately, the teen somehow noticed and immediately took it off her face.

"Where.." She frowned even more when she noticed that her voice was, deeper than she thought. And raspy. And hoarse. Dry. "Where am I?" She breathed out slowly and quietly.

It was the teen's turn to frown. "Hospital. You got into an accident for saving a kid, remember? Why are you even talking in English?" And then she realized, that the teen and everyone else in the room were talking in Japanese. Why were they even talking in Japanese? Better question. How the hell was she able to understand Japanese to this extend? She could, but it was limited.

"Ryuu-nii, are you alright?" Again, who is this Ryuu? And a older brother? She shifted her head slightly to get a better view at everyone in the room, scanning.

"Who... Who are you?"

\------------------------------------------------

Yuuichi's eyes widen. He couldn't believe what he had heard. "W-what are you talking about Ryuu-nii?" He tried to search for any mischievous streaks or any lies Ryuuichi had in his eyes, but all he found was confusion. He turned to the doctor.

"Wh-what.."

The doctor was frowning as well. He stepped forward and asked Ryuuichi. "Shiroki-san, do you remember what happened?"

Ryuuichi's eyes looked up into the ceiling before looking back to the doctor. "No." "Then do you know who you are?"

The name that slipped out of Ryuuichi's lips surprised them all. Yuuichi turned to Amemori, to find that the teen was in shock as well.

"It seems like he has amnesia. I'm not sure if it's a permanent one, or a temporary one." Dino pursed his lips and ushered the doctor out despite everything. What they were going to discuss is not suitable for him to hear after all.

"A-are you sure that that's your name?" Yuuichi asked shakily. Ryuuichi frowned again. "Yes." It was like the world had explode into bits and pieces. How could Ryuuichi not remember--

Dino placed his hands on Yuuichi's shoulder and squeezed. 'It's not Ryuuichi's fault that he can't remember. It's definitely  _not_.'

Sakura and Kei, too, asked again the same question from Yuuichi, only to get a scowl and Ryuuichi inching away from them slightly. "I'm absolutely sure. Where am I  _exactly_?"

"Namimori." Ryuuichi's gaze shifted to Amemori and confusion swirled in his eyes again. "You're in Namimori, Japan." The teen repeated in English.

Ryuuichi's eyes widen, recognition in it. "Alex?" Smiling, Amemori walked nearer to him. "What bullsheit are you spout-." Something dawned Ryuuichi as his words suddenly faltered. His eyes narrowed at the teen. "What's going on?"

And then Amemori explained everything. Ryuuichi's expression shifted to absolute disbelief at each word Amemori said. "If you still can't believe me," He gestured to Dino, who looked as concern as the other three, as though his heart was broken or something. "This is Dino. Real, in flesh and blood."

Ryuuichi's eyes widen again at that, finally realizing who the blonde is. "Oh. Wow. This.. This is mindblowing." Dino stood there, tensed as Ryuuichi scanned him from top to bottom. He didn't know what to say, didn't know what was appropriate. This Ryuuichi in front of him isn't the Ryuuichi he knows. This Ryuuichi is someone else. Dino really didn't know what to do.

"Umm," He blinked out of his reverie and looked at the teen, smiling sheepishly at him. "How..?" He stared at the small, limited gesture of Ryuuichi's hands before finally understood. "Ah, yes." He went up to the bed and pushed a few buttons. The bed lifted until Ryuuichi was in a sitting position.

"Thanks." Ryuuichi said, wincing a little. She was still taken aback by all that, honestly. Who the hell would have thought that they would be reincarnated into a world that shouldn't even exist anyway? Certainly not her, but she had daydreamed about it. But still, all this really happening? She was really speechless.

She looked at her hands, foreign but familiar. Clenching it, she felt as though she was in another person's body. Oh wait, she is now a he. He unclenched his hands and looked up to them all. He bit his lips.

"Umm, I think you guys should get a chair and sit down first..?" He watched them jerking at his words, clearly surprised and hastily did so. It didn't take them a long time before they were all seated around him, Amemori included.

"Well," He started once he was sure that they were all comfortable, as comfortable as they could in these kind of situation anyway. "I.. Can-..Can you guys introduce yourself first? And my name at some point?"

Sakura and Kei exchanged a look and nodded, grabbing Yuuichi's hands. "I'm Kei. Your father. This is Sakura, your mother. And he's Yuuichi, your younger twin brother. You're Ryuuichi, our oldest son." Kei softly said. He took note that Ryuuichi, this teen in front of them, took in the information as though it was nothing. Similar to how their Ryuuichi always does. 'They're really the same..'

"Okay." Ryuuichi breathlessly said. "Right. First thing first.." He muttered, trying to construct a sentence. He found it quite intriguing that he could actually said a full sentence in Japanese with practical ease. And then Italian words suddenly popped in his mind. French came next. What even?

"I'm sorry that I can't remember anything." He apologized, bowed his head instead of his whole body because, it's painful despite the anesthetic. "It's-" Sakura begun, but he shook his head, knowing that she was trying to say that it's not his fault. But that wasn't his point. "I'm apologizing not because it's my fault or whatever. I'm apologizing because I really can't remember anything."

Ryuuichi's own voice sounded so foreign to him, but it's his. "How should I say this? Ermm, I feel like I have forgotten a  _lot_ of important things? Really important things. It's frustrating, but there's nothing I can do." He lifted his head and looked at them. "But I'll remember them. It's not an obligation or anything, but I want to remember them. In the mean time," An awkward smile appeared on his face.

"Can you guys tell me everything?"

It was then they realized that he wasn't someone else. This Ryuuichi in front of them is their Ryuuichi as well. This person, is a part of their Ryuuichi as well. A fragment, a forgotten part, an unknown side of Ryuuichi. How could they even think that he's any different from their Ryuuichi?

Yuuichi returned a smile, a genuine smile. "Of course!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cough* The amnesia cliche came out. *cough* Sorrynotsorry.
> 
> But then again, the reaction ain't that much cliche, no? Okay not really. So said title.
> 
> Urrmm, Kuro, Shiro and Sora could, somehow, feel that Ryuuichi's going to wake up? Something like that? Which is why they got out.
> 
> The pronoun 'She' was used for a section because, well, Ryuuichi forgotten almost everything except his past life, and he being a girl in his past life, hence 'she'. Though it was changed to 'he' because she accepted that she was no longer a 'she', but a 'he', and took it in with a stride. Like, she accepts a lot of things really fast? Changed gender is one of them.
> 
> Again, a major part of Ryuuichi's character is that he accepts most things really fast. A bit too fast, but oh well. This characteristic is, as you all may know now, ever since his past life, so yeah.
> 
> .. Right, Ryuuichi's past self will be nicknamed as Past!Ryuuichi and pronoun, She. Current Ryuuichi is still Ryuuichi, still pronoun he.
> 
> Fun Fact= Sakura indeed has an old habit of biting her nails when she's anxious or really stress. She managed to stop for years now, but Ryuuichi's accident kindda brought it back.
> 
> Fun Fact= Past!Ryuuichi can understand Japanese, of course, but she can only understand the basics, verbally. She couldn't understand those deep sentences and hard words, and the characters. Yeah. The perks of being Anime fanatics since young.
> 
> Which brought to this, Past!Ryuuichi is fluent in English, Mandarin(Chinese), and I don't know, German? Or any other language. Suggestions? Except Mandarin(Chinese), she can't understand the characters(words). Ryuuichi, on the other hand, is fluent in all that three languages (Can understand Mandarin(Chinese) characters now.) and Italian, Japanese, and French.
> 
> Is.. Is things moving too fast right now? The pace of the story.
> 
> Btw, Yuuichi now, has Rain as dominant flame. 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spellings, etc. etc. mistakes] 


	67. Thy Heart Never Change, Thy Soul Grows Older

The door slammed open once again. Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto were panting, perhaps from running. They were in their uniforms, having to rush to the hospital immediately right after getting the news from Reborn. Their eyes immediately aimed towards the bed, where Ryuuichi was. Instead of seeing an unconscious Ryuuichi, the teen was sitting up with his back on the pillows, talking to Yuuichi, Dino, his parents and Amemori. Somehow, Reborn had perched himself on his lap, careful to not jostle his injuries, much to the teen's amusement.

Gokudera and Yamamoto immediately jumped towards him, hugging him. (They managed to not collide onto Reborn.) Ryuuichi was surprised when they did. "Ow ow-" They quickly let go when Ryuuichi winced in pain, hands cradling his ribs. They quickly apologize and bombarded him with questions. "When did you wake up?" "How are you feeling?"

Ryuuichi gave them a small smile. "Sometime in the morning, I think." Gokudera and Yamamoto immediately noticed something different from Ryuuichi, Tsuna as well as he trotted towards Ryuuichi's side. "Are you alright, Ryuuichi?" Tsuna asked, frowning slightly. Ryuuichi shifted his gaze to Tsuna, amused. "Yes."

"Grab a chair and seat down first." Reborn immediately interrupted. Feeling that there was something wrong, they did as told. "BakaRyuu here, has lost his memories."

And cue wide eyes.

"What?!"

Ryuuichi gave them another awkward smile, still amused by everything, however. He explained everything to the trio, telling them the exact words he had told Yuuichi, his parents and Dino . Really though, ever since he woke up, everything was so entertaining. (Minus the thing between his legs. He still couldn't stop blushing when he thought of it.)

When Yuuichi and his parents talked about his childhood, he realized that he had somehow went back to the childish part of him somewhere. And reckless as well. When Dino and Yuuichi talked about his time with Tsuna and the others, he had never been so amused  _yet_  horrified by his own self. And then Reborn came along and added his two cents. Amemori remained silent, however, only explaining the part about the man who brought Amemori's soul over. Caelum, they say.

Though, Ryuuichi really need to get used to the name, and not calling Hibiki as Alex. And the creepy smile that he couldn't stop.

"S-so.." Gokudera was getting paler and paler. Ryuuichi wondered why when he remembered that Reborn mentioned about him helping Gokudera through online. Pursing his lips, he slowly reached over to the bomber and patted him on his head. "Sorry. But I'll remember everything." His hair was surprisingly soft.

He blinked when Gokudera muttered something under his breathe. "I'm sorry?"

"I said," Gokudera looked straight into his eyes, a bit teary. "Don't ever do anything stupid anymore." Ryuuichi's eyes widen before he tilted his head down and laughed. "I can't promise that, but I'll try."

"BakaRyuu." He turned to Yamamoto in surprise. "You're the biggest idiot I know, BakaRyuu." Chuckling at that as well, he lowered his hands. "I know right?"

Tsuna smiled in relief. "Don't make us start a homicide, or go crazy, BakaRyuu."

Ryuuichi choked on his laughter and heaved. "Oh man. Should I flee the country because these three are ganging up on me. Wait. Make that all of you." He still didn't stop laughing when Reborn elbowed him, still being careful of his injuries. "You can run, but you can never hide, BakaRyuu."

And laughter filled the air. They decided right there and then that everyone laughing is the best moments of all, no matter what situation they are in.

\----------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure that you're alright alone, Ryuu-kun?" Sakura asked for the nth time, still reluctant to leave. The visiting time has already ended and they didn't even want to leave. It was when Ryuuichi told them to, when they did. "We can stay, you know?" Shaking his head, he rejected it. "I'll be alright, Mother. Please go home and get some rest. There are eye bags under your eyes. Father and Dino as well."

Kei smiled at that and nodded. "Alright. Don't stay up too late, Ryuu. You're still recovering after all." And he pulled Sakura away after getting a confirmation from Ryuuichi, sliding the door close.

Ryuuichi shook his head again in fond exasperation. He looked out the window and let out a sigh. The sun has already gone down, all of them talking, chatting, telling him stories and losing track of the time. Honestly, it was slightly hard for him to take all of it in, but he somehow managed.

Who would have thought that he would be reincarnated in this world anyway. He tried once more, trying to remember anything about his life in this world, but it was no use. His mind was blank. Like, he was pretty sure that he was a 'she' and in a very different place yesterday, only to wake up into a 'he' and in a world that supposedly doesn't exist.

But he's already having fun. In not more than 12 hours, he felt at home, like he had never even left before.

'I did lived in this world for almost 14 years after all.'

He may not have any memories, but his body could remember everything. Everything he did, every movement he made, it felt so familiar. Only that his mind couldn't catch up to it.

Another smile appeared on his face. He somehow couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.

And then the door opened and closed again. He turned towards the door, eyes widening. It was Hibari Kyouya. 'Oh. My. God.' Hibari stared into his eyes as he walked to the chair beside Ryuuichi's bed and sat down. Their eyes never left each others, immediately engaged into a staring contest.

"Um.."

"You lost your memories."

Blinking at that, Ryuuichi finally broke the eye contact but didn't turn to look anywhere else, laughing nervously. "I guess..?" He jerked a little when he finally noticed Hibird staring at him on Hibari's head as well. He tilted his head, the bird did as well. Tilting the other side, the bird did the same.

Hibari said nothing and merely watched their exchange of movements. It was really adorable. He almost laughed when Hibird flew off his head and landed on Ryuuichi's head instead, chirping. "Umm.." A small smile appeared on his face as Ryuuichi looked absolutely helpless there.

"Rest." A confused face was shown to him. "You've been awake since you woke up the first time. Rest." Reaching over, he pushed the button and the bed lowered. Hibird chirped at the sudden pull of gravity and jumped onto the pillow, puffing up beside Ryuuichi's head. "But-"

He gave the teen a look. "Sleep."

Ryuuichi was beyond surprised. Like, what the heck was actually happening? 'Yuu did told me that I'm rather close with him, but this? Not what I expected  _at all_.' He wanted to chat with Hibari more though, but his body and mind has been complaining. He was tired, he admit, but it didn't help when he really  _really_  wanted to talk to the prefect. (He was scared that this would just be another dream.) Then again, he doubt he has much to say.

"I'll be here in the morning, sleep."

"Did- Did you just read my mind?" Hibari rolled his eyes at him. What are the chance of that?

"No. You're too obvious." Ryuuichi chuckled softly at that, feeling fatigue getting the best of him slowly. "Really..?" Before he fully surrendered to it and succumbed into slumber, he heard as soft "Yes." and a hand stroking his head.

Hibari continued to rake his finger into Ryuuichi hair gently even after Ryuuichi fell asleep. "Sweet dreams." That night, Hibari never left his place as he watched over Ryuuichi.

\----------------------------------------------------------

When Ryuuichi woke up the next morning, he was jump-scared by a clown mask in front of his face and immediately punched it on instinct without much thought, screaming bloody murder. He winced at the sudden pain that coursed through him. "Quiet down please!" The nurse from the other side of the hallway, outside the room he was staying, literally shouted but he paid no heed. He groaned and softly rubbed his sides, feeling the pain ebbed away.

"Ow ow ow- You sure can pack a punch-" His eyes narrowed at the familiar voice and glared daggers on the figure curling on the ground, clutching his face. The mask had been taken off, haphazardly threw to the side.

"Alex. I'm so going to kill you." He growled. Amemori looked up at him from his crouching position, smiling sheepishly. "Oh don't give me that look you arse. Give me that." He pouted and slowly handed the mask to Ryuuichi, who snatched it away from his hands immediately.

Ryuuichi snarled once, and before he knew it, the mask lit up in fire. Amemori stared with his jaw dropped, surprised. Even Ryuuichi was surprised, actually. He didn't even do anything when it caught on fire, except for the thought of wanting to burn it. Ryuuichi immediately threw it down to the ground and watch it burn in both fascination and horror.

"That was, unexpected." He stiffly nodded as the mask turned into ashes. He turrned to look at Amemori. They engaged into a staring contest before bursting out in laughter. As Ryuuichi was laughing, he reached over to grab Amemori's arm and tighten his grasp as much as he can.

"-Aha- Ow ow ow ow ow! Painful! Stop you're crushing my bones!" He chuckled at the reaction and finally let go, hand flopping down onto the bed.

"What were you thinking about, waking me like that?"

Amemori rubbed his arm and sat on the chair, scooting away from Ryuuichi's reach as he pushed the button, the bed lifting up until Ryuuichi was in sitting position. "Revenge."

Ryuuichi gave him a disbelief look. "What?" "Come on. Don't tell me you've forgotten about that time." "No- absolutely not. I would never forget that moment. Your prime moments are always unforgettable." He snickered despite the whine. There was once when he, she placed a skull in front of Alex's face when he was still asleep. Alex's face when he woke up was absolutely priceless. "And mind if I remind you, that was  _ages_  ago."

Amemori grinned at him triumphantly. "I did promise that I would get my revenge."

"By using a clown mask, because I hate them. Nice. Why don't you get, a daruma or those Japanese doll instead? I can ensure you, I'll  _eviscerate_  you immediately."

"That's... A great idea!"

" _Alex!_ " Amemori laughed. "Okay, okay. I'm just joking." Ryuuichi grumbled and pushed his bangs back, ruffling his hair. "You better be."

"Oh, right. Good morning." Ryuuichi blinked at that, finally realizing that they've been speaking in English and switched to Japanese. "Good morning, Hibiki. When did you arrive?"

"Oh sometime ago, when Hibari was still in here. He went to who-knows-where." Ryuuichi subconsciously made a disappointed face. Amemori, of course, noticed that and wasn't exactly happy. In fact, he was a little jealous of how little things of the prefect could bring out most of the emotions Ryuuichi doesn't shows. Even he couldn't do that. Amemori pursed his lips.

"Anyways, I brought this!" He rummaged his sling bag that was on the floor and took out a chess set. "Let's play for old times' sake?"

Ryuuichi raised eyebrow, amused. "Really? Trying to kill our brains early in the morning?" Despite his words, he still helped Amemori set up the board and pieces on the table pulled near to his bed. He took the black piece and gestured the other to start first.

And he did. The game begun as they immediately fell into concentration, eyes shifting across the board as they moved each piece, coming up with predictions and strategies.

"Say," Ryuuichi hummed, thinking of his move as Amemori spoke. "What do you think our lives would be if we didn't get, you know. Reincarnated." He lifted up the bishop, turning it a little and placed it down near the black knight. "Check. Well, I'm not sure. Maybe it'll be normal, maybe it'll be boring, maybe it'll be weird and amazing. Who knows? I certainly don't."

When Amemori moved the pawn to block of the check path, Ryuuichi moved the knight instead. "Check." Amemori clicked his tongue at that and moved his king. ".. I guess you're right, but do you think we will be together?" Ryuuichi's hand froze, holding onto the bishop as he frowned.

"I mean, that we wouldn't be separated for like, I don't know. The last 14 years?" He nodded slowly, took the white pawn and placed the bishop down. Instead of placing the pawn on the side, he fiddled with it.

"... Perhaps." He glanced back down onto the board and blinked. "Ah. Checkmate." Amemori jerked forward and looked at the board with wide eyes. "Arggh!!" Leaning back down onto the chair, he sighed. "Again!"

Ryuuichi let out a chuckle at his antics and nodded, rearranging the pieces, taking the white this time. "Sure." He was glad that the conversation was dropped. It had left a bad taste, bitter and made him self-conscious. He would prefer it if that conversation wasn't brought up ever again, or in fact, he rather not have that conversation at all.

On their fourth round and Ryuuichi's third win, Yuuichi, his parents and Dino arrived. And hours after, Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto came dragging along Enma. The girls arrived around the same time as they did, including Chrome. (They were devastated upon knowing his conditions, but immediately changed the gloomy atmosphere easily. Chrome, however, kept staring at him and he didn't know why.)

Reborn just popped out of nowhere and sat on his lap again. (He has no idea why Reborn did that, but he wasn't complaining. Reborn is warm.) Somehow, they've brought a lot of games, which ended up with Reborn, Sakura, Kei and Ryuuichi being the judges of the games.

Two word. A mess. All of them ended up fighting against each other one way or another (Minus Enma and Tsuna who looked at them in exasperation), until the head nurse came and shouted at them. Ryuuichi had to actually stare at the head nurse with a disapproving, poker face in silence until she backed away from throwing them out. He would not have someone throw his friends and family out just because they were too noisy. Then again, she  _was_  doing her job.

Ryuuichi sighed and shook his head. "Guys, pipe it down. You're bothering the other patients." All of them deflated and nodded. A small series of apologies were heard. Yuuichi pouted and bounced over to his side, sat up onto the bed and leaned against him. Dino yelped when the younger twin accidentally kicked his side from where he was lying on the ground. "Booo..."

Ryuuichi chuckled at that. "Oh right." He tilted his head when Yuuichi took out a bracelet and ring out from his pocket. "I almost forgot. Here. They're yours."

He gingerly took them, looking at the ring. He squinted his eyes a bit and saw words incripted on the inside of the ring. ''The eyes of the selfless'? The heck?' Shrugging, he slid it onto his right middle finger. "It's, warm? Did you somehow placed it near the heater or something?"

"No I didn't. It's already warm like that." He nodded, staring at the glinting metal. Growls and howls were soon heard from the bracelet and the animals popped out, all jumping onto Ryuuichi. "W-woah!"

Everyone in the room laughed as the panther cubs and the wolf pup Ryuuichi's face as much as they could, Kuro nipping on his cheek and Shiro climbing up onto his head. Sora had perched himself on his shoulder and nuzzled against his neck. "Umm, g-guys..?" (He swore he heard the very familiar clicking sound of camera going off at that moment.)

"Oh you brought it to yourself, Ryuuichi." Reborn chirped rather cheerfully. "You made them worry after all. You made all of us worry."

The said teen laughed nervously at that. "Sorry- Ouch! Stop biting on me-" All of them laughed at his futile effort of wanting to stop the black panther cub.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Night fell once again, and all of them were ushered back, much to their dismay. This time, there wasn't much protests since they knew Ryuuichi still needed a lot of rest. Though, Kuro, Shiro and Sora refused to leave his side and return to the bracelet, cuddling up against him. Ryuuichi smiled at the soft purrs from Kuro and Shiro, Sora nuzzling closer to his side.

"You seemed comfortable."

He snorted. "Yeah right. Not as comfortable as you sleeping in the ward beside this one." Hibari merely smirked and walked forward, taking a sit on the chair he had sat on the previous night once again. "What gave it away?" Ryuuichi shrugged at that.

"Not sure. Just that I could somehow feel a familiar flame after I wore this." He held up his right hand, showing the ring. "Or wait... I could feel it even when I didn't wear it..?" He wondered, but the soft chuckle from Hibari made him stop and focused on the prefect.

'This is soooo, weird. But cool as hell. My mind couldn't take it. Help.' In contrary to his currently chaotic mind, he had a blank face outside. It was just too unbelievable. The pain wasn't a dream, what he was seeing and experiencing wasn't a dream as well. He  _love_  it.

"Isn't today the last day of school?"

Hibari nodded, leaning back. "It is." "And there's nothing to do?" An eyebrow was arched. "Is there anything to do in the first place?"

"I don't know. Biting people to death?" Another chuckle was heard.

"Tempting, but tasteless." Ryuuichi made a face. "Is that intentional, or  _intentional_?"

"Not much of an option is there?"

"I will give you another option. Deliberate." Hibari smirked. He reached forward and flicked Ryuuichi on the forehead, the other teen whined at that. "And your not so subtle threat of eviscerate Amemori Hibiki was intentional, or optional?"

Ryuuichi flailed his hand as much as he could without jostling the three animals on his lap. "Of course you would've heard of it. To answer your question, absolutely  _intentional_." He grinned when the prefect shook his head slightly and leaned back, but not before flicking him on the forehead again.

"Ouch!" Hibari gave him an unimpressed look, yet amused. "Okay. Ouch not."

"Did someone fed you wits today?"

"Nope. Had them ever since I was born for the first time." Hibari resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Ryuuichi and settled with a scoff at his shit-eating grin. He shifted his gaze to the three animals, and smiled. "Cold, are you?"

"Hm?" Ryuuichi looked down as well, only to realize that Kuro, Shiro and Sora were pulling little bits of their flames to keep all of them warm. "No, actually. But it's nice." He gave each one of them a stroke on the head, scratching by their ears a little. "And these fuzz balls are drop dead cute."

"You do realize that you just said that with an indifferent facade, do you?"

"Yep."

The prefect laughed. Albeit softly, but he laughed. Ryuuichi blinked in surprise, only to dissolve in soft laughter as well. "It think you should rest now."

He gave Hibari the same look he gave him earlier. "In my defense, I never left. As you said, I was in the room next door." He didn't drop the look. Hibari rolled his eyes this time. "Fine. I returned home for a moment to change before coming back." He wanted to flick Ryuuichi on the forehead again, he didn't. Instead, he shook his head and pressed on. "Sleep."

Ryuuichi grudgingly went along. "Yes,  _mother_."

"Don't make me bite you, small animal." Ryuuichi laughed again.

\------------------------------------ **Bonus** \---------------------------------------

Amemori grumbled as he moved his queen, alert of any other pieces that could take the queen off the board and placed it down on the board. "Check. God, when did you get so good?"

Ryuuichi shrugged and mentally debated on moving which piece, weighing every possibilities. "Don't know. It's just that I could see everything clearer now." He settled with moving the knight to block the queen's path. Another grumble from Amemori was heard as the teen moved the bishop, taking the rook. "If I don't win this round, I'm going to kiss you."

"I'll castrate you if you come near me even an inch from where you're sitting, arsehole." Ryuuichi moved the pawn. The piece was placed down when his eyes widen. "Oh shit." Amemori's grin turn feral and he immediately moved the queen down to the last lane. "Checkmate, buddy!"

Ryuuichi groaned and leaned back. "Congrats." He pushed his hair back and rearranged the pieces again. He swatted the hand that was reaching over to his neck, slamming it down onto the metal railing of the bed. "Nope. Don't even think about touching me you goddamn perv."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did promised that I would write a few certain things, but things and things and blah blah blah, I'll be on the next chapter. At first I thought of making it as an omake, but ended up not doing it because, why not make it canon in this story? 'Sides!! I'll probably get a good laugh at everything. *smirks*
> 
> Fun Fact= As all of you probably realized, yes. Amemori's good at chess as well. Which the conversation in bonus popped out. Yes, Amemori is a pervert. Low-key, but Ryuuichi knew it.
> 
> Fun Fact= Said games that they played are Monopoly, Poker, UNO+Shiritori anddd a shrewd version of Kings Game. Chaos, I tell you. Chaos. Which ended up with Dino being on the floor, Enma's upper half out the window and hanging, unconscious, Tsuna almost puking, Gokudera bitten and Yamamoto bites. Oh and the girls ended up in a group of giggles by one corner. Yuuichi all but sprawled across Dino's stomach. In short, Ryuuichi almost died for laughing too much and choked on his saliva.
> 
> I'll have to admit something. Hibari is a bit too Out Of Character here. His characteristic is hard for me to write, honestly. Like, howww? Okay, maybe when I'm not in a high mood, but still..
> 
> Ah. Right. About his Historian thing, Reborn had explained to him so yeah.
> 
> Anyway, I think Ryuuichi will be discharged in the next chapter? How, will be explain later. *mumbles* All these ideas in my head...
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	68. White

_He didn't know what happened, but he ended up in this, white room where nothing else exist except himself. He caught flashes of somethings by the corner of his eyes, but he didn't managed to catch what it really was as it disappeared without a trace. He frowned and looked around him, trying to look for any clue to where he was._

_And he saw a silhouette. He frowned, finding it familiar. He slowly moved closer and closer to the silhouette, noticing the mild indigo gas around it, no, it was a he. "What..." His voice echoed against the empty space as he stood directly in front of the person, floating and unconscious with the indigo gas holding him up. No, not indigo gas._

_A oval-like glass container with indigo flames circulating around it almost protectively._

_Ryuuichi slowly raised his hand to touch it, placing it on the glass near the face as he tried to see clearer through the shrouds of mist. When he finally got a clearer look, his eyes widen._

_That person, was a complete carbon copy of Ryuuichi._

\---------------------------------------------------

Hibari didn't knew whether to be exasperated or annoyed, or both as the matter of fact. He rubbed his temple as he went to check if the small animal was in the toilet, which he wasn't. Somehow, when the prefect went out to buy a cup of hot tea (It tasted really bad, but he would have to cope with it, sadly), Ryuuichi had manage to  _sneak_  out.

He sighed and placed the cup on the night stand beside the bed, wondering how did someone with torn ligaments managed to walk off without him noticing. He was just, at the other corner by the vending machine. And he was pretty sure that Ryuuichi was still asleep when he went out.

Just as he was about to search for the missing teen outside, he noticed a familiar frame limply trotted into his view from the window. He turned to the window and looked out to see Ryuuichi standing on a pile of white snow, fidgeting like a penguin. It had snowed the previous night, stopping just before the break of dawn. It was pretty piled up since it snowed quite a lot.

He shook his head when Ryuuichi actually  _sat_ on the snow with a grimace on his face since he couldn't crouch. He took his coat from the chair and immediately headed towards the small yard where Ryuuichi was.

"What are you doing?"

Ryuuuichi yelped and turned his head towards Hibari as much as he could from his position, before sighing in relief. He gave him a grinned and returned his attention to the snow. He grabbed a handful of it with his bare hands, packing it tightly into a small, oval ball. He grabbed two leaves he had found and two small pebbles he had dug out from the snow, and placed it on the snow ball.

"Look!" He showed to the prefect, who crouched down beside him."Snow bunny!" It was really cute, Hibari had to admit, but his main priority at the moment was this idiot. "I can see that. I'm asking what are you doing, sitting on the snow with such thin clothes?"

Ryuuichi was wearing a thin set of pajama the hospital staff provided with only a long cardigan his brother brought over since it was getting colder and colder. He gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged. "I can stand it. Besides, it snowed! Look at this pile of white fluff!" He patted the ground beside him, acting like a five year old child. Then again, his mind did turned back into a teenager of Hibari's age, still in his puberty stage, in a sense anyway. Hibari could only sigh in exasperation.

Ryuuichi pouted at that sigh and gathered the snow again, packing it together tightly and threw it at Hibari. The prefect was caught off guard as Ryuuichi laughed. "S-sorry not sorry!"

Hibari narrowed his eyes at the teen as he dusted the snow from his shoulder. His eyes glinted and he grabbed the teen's hand. Before the other could do anything, he plunged it into the snow and held it there. "Uwa-! W-w-woah wait let go- It's burning!" He didn't let go. Instead, he held tighter, a sadistic smirk on his face. "Give! I give up!"

He finally loosen his grip and pulled the now red hand out from the snow. "Serves you right." He grabbed the other hand, slightly red as well and held both together in his slightly larger hands. He rubbed them together and breathed into it, warming his hands up. "Why did you even play in the snow with your bare hands?"

When he was sure that it returned to it's normal temperature, he looked up to Ryuuichi, face rather close to his. He arched an eyebrow when he noticed how red the younger teen was. Even his ears and neck were red. "Cold?"

Ryuuichi snapped out of his trance and immediately looked away. He tried to pull his hands away from Hibari's to no avail. "N-no! I-I'm not cold!" Rather than cold, he was actually feeling hot. Too hot for his comfort. Especially with Hibari being too near to him. When he tried to lean away, Hibari merely leaned in.

"W-w-w-what?!"

And Hibari bit the bridge of his nose. Ryuuichi squeaked loudly and backed away, finally managed to get his hands out of Hibari''s grasp and covered his nose. He grew even more red at that, and he was sure that there were smoke coming out of his ears. The prefect actually had the nerve to smirk at him after what he had done. Ryuuichi wanted to punch Hibari right there, right then, but he just couldn't cool his heating face down.

Hibari chuckled. Ryuuichi looked like an offended kitten, much to his amusement. He reached over and pulled his coat over Ryuuichi's shoulder. "Let's get back inside. It's cold."

"O-okay." Before the other managed to push himself up, Hibari already had one arm under his legs and the other supporting his back, and he was lifted up with general ease. Ryuuichi squeaked even louder and protested, wanting Hibari to immediately put him down.

"No. Mind if I remind you that you have torn ligaments that are still healing." Without paying any heed to the protests, he merely held the teen tighter and walked into the building.

\---------------------------------------------------

Amemori had saw all their exchange from where he was in Ryuuichi's room. He had a dark look on his face as he clenched his hands tightly, knuckles turning white. His eyes glinted in red, flashing.

\---------------------------------------------------

Forget about cooling down. Ryuuichi was absolutely heating up. He moaned in despair and tried to cover his face with his hands as they passed by a few nurses, doctors and patients even, all staring at them. 'This is too much! Is Hibari this shameless?!'

When they finally reached the room, Hibari narrowed his eyes at Amemori. Amemori returned one of his own as they glared at each other, more of rage from Amemori. The glare immediately disappear as Amemori walked over to Ryuuichi from the window, smiling brightly.

Ryuuichi didn't noticed the exchange as he was too busy pushing everything down, grinned back at Amemori. "Good morning, Hibiki."

"Good morning to you as well, Ryuuichi, Hibari-san." He did, however, noticed how the prefect's name was slightly gritted out. He said nothing about it.

Amemori cupped his face, surprising Ryuuichi. "Why did you even went out and play while wearing that? What if you catch a cold?" Ryuuichi laughed nervously and scratched his cheek. "Well, I can't help it. It was snowing after all!"

"Yes, but you should wear something warmer next time." He pouted and deflated. "Okay..." He looked like a dejected kitten in both Amemori and Hibari's eyes, adorable. He opened again, and in flash, he grabbed the hand on his other cheek and bit into it hard.

"Ouch! R-Ryuuichi! Let go!" He increased the pressure for a moment before letting go. Amemori immediately retracted his hand from him and backed away from Ryuuichi's reach, cradling his poor hand. Ryuuichi merely gave Amemori a feral grin when he asked why. "Just feel like it~"

(Hibari noted that Ryuuichi could really  _bite_ , given how red Amemori's hand was. He noted with pride, mind you.)

A familiar shiver ran down Ryuuichi's spine. His grin dropped as he tried to figure out what it was, to see Rokudo Mukuro standing by the door, smirking. 'Are. You. Kidding. Me.'

"Oya oya, how lively all of you are in the morning." Hibari, who was standing beside Ryuuichi disappeared into a blur and reappeared in front of Mukuro, his tonfa out and pushing against the trident.

"What are you doing here, herbivore."

"Can't I visit someone, Hibari Kyouya?" The said prefect was pushed back, jumping away from the bluenette and snarled. He was about to rush forward and attack Mukuro again, only to have a pillow thrown in between them.

They both turned to Ryuuichi. He was glaring at the both of them, a stern look on his face. "No fighting. This is a hospital." He kept the glare up until they, with great reluctant, kept their weapons away. He turned to Mukuro and dropped the glare, smiling slightly. "Good morning, Mukuro."

Mukuro looked a bit surprised at that. He hadn't expect such a calm demeanor from the other even after losing his memories. Granted, he probably knew and remembered a lot of things about Mukuro now that he could only remember his sixteen years of living, but the last thing Mukuro expected is this. Again, the same eyes yet different ones, gazed at him. There was nothing but kindness and happiness, and heaven forbid, acceptance. There was no understanding in them, however. Mukuro didn't need them, as how Ryuuichi knew that as well. He didn't need all that from Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi is, and will forever be, no one to him.

And yet, it made him smile.

He quickly covered the smile up into a smirk and walked nearer to Ryuuichi. "Good morning, sleeping beauty." He grabbed Ryuuichi's hand and pulled it near his lips, giving it a small peck. His heterochromatic eyes were on Ryuuichi all the time, watching how his face turned red from that in amusement.

"I-I- What?" It was quite cute of him to stutter like that. Did reverting back to his teenage mind made him more cuter and endearing? Mukuro didn't know.

He was pulled back, a tonfa on his neck as Hibari growled lowly. He smirked at the prefect, turning his gaze sharply to Amemori who was scowling. 'How interesting.'

"Good morning Ryuu-kun-" They stopped when Sakura, Kei and Yuuichi walked into the room. Sakura blinked in surprise at the three standing teen, took in Ryuuichi's red face and flailing hands, and squealed. "Oh my~! So many suitors!"

"M-mother!"

"I'll support your decision on whoever it is, my dear!" "Mother!!"

Ryuuichi groaned into his hands, wondering what was with his life. Yuuichi then came into view, and in a rather deadpanned manner, "They'll have to get through me first."

"You're not helping, Yuu!"

He noticed how Hibari and Mukuro perked up at that, and glared at them. "Don't you guys dare. I'll skin you both alive."

They deflated.

Kei immediately interfered as he pushed his wife and youngest son into the room and closed the door. "Guess what, Ryuu. You can be discharged today!" He smiled when the said teen brighten up at the good news. He knew that he wanted to get out of the hospital for awhile. The hospital is really stuffy and stiff after all. "The doctor said that you're healing very fast, so you're free to go." Albeit too fast for someone who got hit by a truck. It surprised the doctor when he saw how well Ryuuichi was healing, and that he was already able to walk, quite a miracle for him.

Too bad for the doctor, he didn't knew that there was something call Sun Flames. (Reborn. It was Reborn. Kei noticed the small amount of Sun flames in the air whenever Reborn was there. That, and the hitman kept sitting on Ryuuichi's lap whenever he visited.)

Amemori suddenly ruffled Ryuuichi's hair, smiling happily at him. "Isn't that great?"

"Yep!" Hibari glared at Amemori, tonfa long kept away when Kei gave Ryuuichi the news. Mukuro looked absolutely amused, smirking so badly.

Sakura noticed all of it, watching how everything centered on Ryuuichi and giggled to herself.

'How adorable, these kids.'

"Sakura?" She turned to Kei with a happy smile, flowers popping out of nowhere. "Nothing~" (Kei shuddered. That wasn't a 'nothing' at all.)

\---------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi looked in awe as he explored his home, limply walked around as he took in everything. It looked normal, but he still felt amazed by it. His parents chuckled as Yuuichi pulled him upstairs slowly. "Come on. Your room is this way." As he stepped into his room, the first thing he noticed was, it was spacious. Really spacious.

The two wooden shelves by the wall were 80 percent filled, most filled with novels, a few dictionaries, manga, and a whole lot more. The wardrobe was next to the shelves, had a body length mirror. The L-shaped computer desk slash study table against the corner of the room, was quite messy, but it was acceptable, the black computer chair pushed in. His bed, mind him, was a bloody queen-sized bed. Why would he need a queen-sized bed when he clearly sleeps alone was beyond his knowledge.

He, honest to god, didn't knew why he needed that mirror, or that queen-sized bed, or that large drawer under the table beside a, storage box? (He would rummage everything out and  _wonder_  later.)

However bizarre it was to Ryuuichi, the familiarity had him loosen up and relax. He walked up to the bed and sat on it. That was when he noticed the large Hibird plushie on his bed. His eyes widen and pulled it closer. ".... Hibari?"

Yuuichi laughed. "Yes. Hibari."

Ryuuichi nodded and squeezed it. He released the pressure and the Hibird plushy bounced back to it's normal shape. 'It's so fluffy!!' (Yuuichi rubbed his eyes. He must be hallucinating because he thought that he saw flowers bouncing out from Ryuuichi. Oh wait. He wasn't.) He placed the Hibird plushy back to it's place.

"I wonder where did he find this..." He murmured before standing up and faced Yuuichi. His eyes were practically shiny and sparkling. "Show me the other rooms."

\----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had fell asleep in the midst of rummaging his stuff on the floor, leaning against the side of his bed. Yuuichi sighed fondly. knelt down beside his brother and shook his shoulder. "Ryuu, wake up. You'll catch a cold if you sleep here." He shook harder when his brother groaned, mumbling something under his breathe.

"Ryuu."

He watched how his brother's eyebrows scrunched together into a frown before he opened his eyes. Those hazy dark brown eyes looked at him, before he groggily looked around his room. 'He must be really tired.' Yuuichi mused. He slung one of Ryuuichi's arm over his shoulder, and slowly pulled him up.

"Come on, sleep on your bed." When he was about to sat Ryuuichi down on the mattress, he was pulled down and the twins ended flopped on the bed with a thud. "Wha- Ryuu--" He tried to pull Ryuuichi's arms away from him, but his brother held on tightly. "Yuu.." Ryuuichi mumbled, eyes slowly closing. ".. It's too bad it wasn't a White Christmas..."

Yuuichi's eyes widen at that and looked at Ryuuichi again, only to see his brother asleep again. 'Was he dreaming, or did he remembered..?' Yuuichi tangled his fingers with Ryuuichi's hair, gently scraping his scalp. A small, exasperated smile was on. "Yeah.. It's too bad..."

A satisfied smile appeared on Ryuuichi's face as he unconsciously pulled Yuuichi closer.

(An hour later, when Kei and Sakura went up to see what they were doing, squealed and quickly took pictures. The twin was holding each other tightly, sleeping.)

\----------------------------------------------------

Dino was actually doing his work in the guest room he was temporarily staying in the Shiroki household. He, after all, did rush over to Japan and left all his work behind. It was unbefitting of him, so said his ex-tutor. He knew that, of course, which was why he had brought along his laptop.

Currently, he was going through a few proposals, emails and such when Ryuuichi came in. His eyes widen at the familiar yellow bird in a form of a plush toy clutched tightly in Ryuuichi's arms as the younger trotted over to where he was on the bed and sat down beside him. "What are you doing?"

He frowned at the slightly slurred words. He then realized that Ryuuichi hair was tussled, disheveled. His shirt was crumpled as well, eyelids half opened. 'He's half asleep, isn't he?'

He pulled Ryuuichi closer since it was quite cold. That, and the single bed was quite small since Dino was such a giant, being 183 centimeter tall. He didn't want Ryuuichi to fall down. He hummed. "Work. Is there anything you need?"

He chuckled at how Ryuuichi squinted his eyes at the screen, reading the mail from a possible ally Famiglia. "... Decline..."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow. The whole mail was in Italian and despite that he knew Ryuuichi understood Italian, it should be hard for him to understand the whole thing. "It's really a good proposal, so why should I decline it?" Deciding to test the younger, he asked. (He originally had wanted to decline it and was still debating on it, so opinion from someone else would be really good.)

Ryuuichi sluggishly pointed at a paragraph. "... Loopholes in the proposal. Can possibly lead to drug dealings on turf. And," He moved to another. "Supplying weapons without any reason is bad. Can lead to possible war." He then moved to the last paragraph.

"... Why does this dude need 6 million if this proposal is accepted? This  _is_  a  _proposal_?"

Dino nodded, impressed. He ruffled Ryuuichi's already messy hair, managed to squeeze out a whine from the teen. "Good job."

He stopped ruffling as Ryuuichi held his hand on his head. The teen sleepily grinned at him. '... Did he really see all that in this kind of condition?' Dino sweated a little. He decided, when Ryuuichi regained his memories, he would ambush the teen when he was half asleep to see his condition and test again. This is too intriguing.

"..."

"Wait why are you so hot?" He frowned and pulled Ryuuichi's head closer to his, placing his forehead against Ryuuichi's. His eyes widen.

"You're burning up!" Loud, hasty footsteps was heard across the hallway and Yuuichi bragged in with medicine in hand just as Dino placed his laptop aside. "Ryuuichi! I told you to stay put!"

Ryuuichi merely giggled to himself and fell asleep on Dino's chest.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welll, that was fun.
> 
> I won't say anything about the first part. The only thing is, Ryuuichi was dreaming, and he was in some kind of dreamscape, you know. Yeah. And his saw himself. I won't say anything else here. Although, yes, Mukuro has something to do with this.
> 
> At first I was like, why not make it a White Christmas! And then when I wrote it all out, I realized it was really messy and, a bit fast. I was like, ??!? So we ended up with this.
> 
> And then the part with Hibari. I grinned so much that my cheeks hurt.
> 
> I've no idea what I wrote on Mukuro's part so, *wave hand aside*
> 
> Fun Fact= Occasionally, Ryuuichi would end up as a drunkard like person when he catch a cold. Though, most of the time he would be more the normal, cranky kind but there'll still be these kind of time. A drunk, I tell you. A drunk.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	69. Between Borders

Ryuuichi groaned at the heat. It was too hot. Why was it so hot? He moved his feet slightly and realized that there was something on top of his body. With a small grunt of annoyance, he kicked it off. Sighing in relief at the cold air against his skin, he went back to slumber. He nuzzled his face into his pillow, relaxing into the mattress.

"Ryuu." He ignored that, snuggling deeper. "Ryuu, wake up."

Kei huffed and leaned back, his son completely went back to sleep. He had been trying to wake him up to no avail, seeing that it was almost noon with Ryuuichi sleeping in. Sure, he was still recovering and all, but Kei was sure that sleeping so much is not really that good.

"Looks like I got no choice.." He gathered the duvet that Ryuuichi kicked off and spread it open. He looked at Ryuuichi and dived.

"Uwa?!" Ryuuichi struggled at the sudden weight and the change of temperature. "Wake up, Ryuu. It's almost noon." He whined and struggled, trying to get out of the heat and his father's embrace. Too bad for him, Kei was strong and he was very sleepy. "Uggghh!"

He stopped and finally opened his eyes. "Hot..." He groaned out loud, albeit muffled against the duvet. "Too hot- Father. I'm up. It's too hot. Please---" Kei chuckled at that and finally got off of Ryuuichi, sitting beside him. "Finally awake?" Ryuuichi pushed the duvet off his face and sighed. "Yeah."

Shaking his head, Kei stroked Ryuuichi's head, hair tussled and there was a thin layer of sweat. "It's a wonder how you're able to sweat in this kind of cold weather." He smiled softly and took his hand away as Ryuuichi stretched, bones popping. Ryuuichi stopped and winced when his ribs protested. "Ouch. Not a good idea there.." He relaxed back and looked up at Kei.

"I think my fever broke last night? And then boom. Heat wave." He said stoically, to which Kei laughed. "Yeah. It did. Go take a warm shower and wash up."

He stood up and walked out of Ryuuichi's room at the dragged 'yes' when Ryuuichi was suddenly behind him and leaned all his weight on Kei. "Offt!" Kei stood still and held onto the wall to support the extra weight on his back, arms around his neck. "Ryuu?"

"Papa." His eyes widen at that. He hadn't heard that for a long time now. As Ryuuichi and Yuuichi grew older, they've stopped calling him by 'Papa', sadly. It was really nostalgic to hear it again after so long. He smiled. "Yes?" He felt the grip around his neck tighten momentarily, but not to enough to accidentally choke him, before it slacken.

Ryuuichi let go and moved back a little, a calculating look on his face as Kei turned around to look at him. ".. Nope! Nothing! Just feel like it." Kei raised an eyebrow at that but pried no further. "Really, now. Well, just go now, a shower. Warm one. Don't want to catch another cold now, do you?"

As Ryuuichi grunted, Kei closed the door and walked downstairs slowly.

"Wait. He shouldn't be able to remember, should he?"

\-------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi turned the tap and let the warm water fall on him, soaking in it slightly. He placed a hand on the wall, the tiles cold against his palm as he looked at the water flowing into the drainer, his hair stuck onto his face. (He blatantly ignored the thing hanging down there, no point dwelling about that.)

There was a numb throbbing on his head, which he managed to ignore it but he doubt that it would go away unless he takes the painkillers or something else. (He made a mental note to take one, or two.) He had a dream. A dream that would fade into nothing in his mind, but he held onto it the moment he was aware of it, replaying again and again to remember.

He dreamed of a child, no, two actually. Two children laughing, calling out for their parents as they ran around the, zoo? There was cages, with animals, yeah. A zoo. They looked excited, really excited as they pulled their parents along, one holding the father's hand while the other holding the mother's.

_"Papa. That's a golden eagle, right?" The man smiled down at the kid, a kid with longer hair. "Yep. It is a golden eagle." "They're sooo rare though.." Chuckling slightly, the man lifted the child up and carried him. "They're beautiful, no?" The child nodded, looking a bit bristled at the sudden change of height and the thought of getting carried, but looked really happy._

'That.. Was me wasn't it?' He didn't dare to confirm it, not confident. It was blurry, and Ryuuichi's imagination is really weird. Sometimes, he would thought that he remembered a memory, but it was nothing but his imagination. Not now, not really. He didn't know, but it often happened in the past. He couldn't control his imagination most of the time, which probably explained why he could connect something with another thing out of nowhere. He could see a lot of scenarios with just a sound or a movement.

Not really a good thing, nor is it bad. Just wild. Really  _really_ wild. And occasionally a pain in the back.

When he called Kei by 'Papa', he felt the familiarity, and warm. It was really warm. Not exactly the type of warm he felt under the duvet, no. It was like, warm as in warm in his heart.

That sounded like something that came out from a cheesy, romance novel. Or just one of those plain disturbing crack fictions he had read over the internet.

Anyways, from the way how the word rolled off his tongue, he could tell that he had used it before, but he couldn't remember. Other than the sudden memory from his dream anyway. (He hoped that it was a memory.) He wanted to remember though. So badly, but he couldn't.

Damn frustrating.

He sighed and closed his eyes, lifting his head up. He felt the water falling on his face, tapping and pushed his hair back, bangs stuck on top of his head with the water. He reached over to where the soap was.

'Might as well not waste anymore water.'

\------------------------------------------------------

"Yuu."

Yuuichi hummed in a questioning tone as he blew dry Ryuuichi's hair with the hair dryer. Then he realized that Ryuuichi probably didn't hear him over the loud noise the hair dryer made. "Yeah?"

"Did we went to a zoo when we're younger?"

And the blowing stopped. Ryuuichi blinked and tilted his head up to look at Yuuichi, still leaning against the bed. "I'm sorry, but did you just asked that if we went to a zoo when we're younger?" He raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"Um, yeah. I just asked that."

Yuuichi's eyes were wide as saucers and Ryuuichi thought that they would just, fall out from the sockets. He didn't want that. That would be disturbing and disgusting. It didn't helped much that he could still remember the one show he watched before where one of the characters ate someone's  _eye_. No thanks.

"Y-you remembered?" He frowned.

"I'm not sure if it's real, which is why I-" Yuuichi suddenly hugged him, the hair dryer placed aside. "Of course it's real! You remembered!"

"Um, not exactly. I just dreamed of it last night. And only that." The younger twin didn't stop smiling, however, excited. "That doesn't matter! You remembered!"

Ryuuichi felt a smile tugged on his lips at how excited his brother was.

\-----------------------------------------------------

It was during the evening that Ryuuichi realized that it was Christmas eve. "Woah wait, what?" Yuuichi gave him a strange look from where he was standing by the Christmas tree, as tall as he was, holding a golden, plastic ball. "It's Christmas eve?" Ryuuichi asked, lounging on the sofa with Dino since they wouldn't let him do anything at all, laptop on his, well, lap.

Dino, who he was leaning against hummed, sipping on the hot chocolate while typing away on  _his_  laptop. Not Ryuuichi's, his. "Yep. By the way, there'll be a party here tomorrow."

Ryuuichi turned to Dino, looking at the blonde with a scandalized look. "Hah?"

Dino smiled sheepishly and put away the cup, eyes never leaving the screen. "Reborn's idea since you're injured. Everyone's invited, apparently."

"Everyone as in, Namimori everyone or  _everyone_  everyone?"

He snorted at that. "Namimori everyone. Mukuro and Enma would be coming, so it seems. Not sure about Enma's guardians, however."

Ryuuichi turned to his mother, who just walked in with a small box of trinkets. "You allowed it?"

"Yep~ You're injured after all. Can't let you move around that much." He groaned, putting more pressure down on his weight against Dino. "Mother," He drawled out in exasperation. "I'm injured, not crippled."

"That's the second time I heard that from you." His head flopped onto Dino's lap with a raised an eyebrow, missing the laptop completely. "I said that before?"

"Oh you did. When you fell off the cliff." He grimaced. "Okay. So I take that as I've participated in that forest shit?" Dino looked very amused at how he placed his words together. "Yep~" He said cheerily. Somewhere during his and Ryuuichi's, who had lost his memories, interaction, they became closer with how unreserved Ryuuichi was now.

Actually, he is still reserved. And he just recovered from a cold. Yeah.

"So how long are you going to stay here?"

"Are you driving me out, Ryuuichi?"

The said teen gave him a scowl. "No. Why would I? And mind you, you have  _work_."

"Not really. It's Christmas. Annual break during Christmas eve to sometime after New Year." Dino huffed and closed his laptop, finally finished his work. "... So  _free_ , huh." Ryuuichi pulled his laptop off his lap and onto his stomach. "Oh well. I'll have a portable wall to lean against."

"Hey. Said portable wall has feelings too you know."

He nodded. "I'll have a portable wall with feelings to lean against and play said feelings." Dino rapped his knuckles on Ryuuichi's forehead gently. Kei and Yuuichi laughed as they continued to decorate the tree, Sakura heading over to help. Ryuuichi glanced at them for a moment before turning back onto his laptop.

"Did you guys know that the northern leopard frog swallows its prey with  _its eyes_?"

"... What exactly  _are_ you reading?"

\-----------------------------------------------------

It was barely six in the morning when an infant jumped onto his stomach while he was asleep, sprawled on the bed, and sat there tapping. He kept on tapping Ryuuichi's stomach like it was a drum, tap tap tap tap tap  _tap_.

"Whatttttt.." Ryuuichi moved his arms, one on his head over his eyes and another over his chest, and grabbed Reborn's hands. He blearily noted that they were larger than before, signifying that Reborn was growing. No wonder he weighted. Good.

He opened his eyes slowly to see a Reborn in Santa costume smirking down at him. "Ho ho ho!" He stared at Reborn a little longer.

"Morning?" He glanced at the digital clock and groaned. "It's not even six. How the hell did you get in anyway? No. Nevermind. Don't answer." If possible, Reborn's smirk grew wider than usual. Ryuuichi yawned, pulling Reborn onto his chest and rolled to his side.

Reborn blinked in slight surprised at that as his back hit the soft mattress, arms around him. He twitched, looking at Ryuuichi who already went back to sleep. It was surprisingly warm. Not too hot, nor too cold. Just nice. Ryuuichi's body temperature is nice as well. Pleasantly nice.

However, Reborn wasn't going to go with the younger's plan. He shifted so he was facing Ryuuichi, not bothering to use his usual method on waking one up since, electrocuting Ryuuichi wasn't exactly a good plan. His current state and all. He placed his hands on top of Ryuuichi's face and started  _tapping_  again, watching how his face twitched at that.

It was amusing, enough said. Reborn had once found out that Ryuuichi gets annoyed if anyone constantly tapped him on the same spot over and over again when he's asleep. The hitman wondered what the reaction he would get if he tapped on Ryuuichi's weak spots.

He grinned gleefully at that thought.

"Hell. What is it?" Ryuuichi grumbled under his breath, trying to move away from the presistant hands and fingers, which obviously he failed. "It's morning."

"I know. I just said that." Ryuuichi placed his hands above Reborn's, but that did not stop the tapping from the fingers. Damn it.

"It's Christmas. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas as well. So?"

"So, wake up and celebrate." Reborn grabbed the cheeks and pulled them apart, very amused at how the other tried to pull his hands away. "Okay! I get it! Let me go!" Reborn, feeling mischievous, pulled more before releasing. The flesh slapped back onto its rightful place, red.

Ryuuichi pouted at the hitman and rolled onto his back, letting Reborn to slip out of his arms. He yawned again, not having the decency to cover his mouth. When he was sure that he wouldn't accidentally slap the hitman, he rolled again and this time, off the bed, landing on his two feet and sat up.

"Did it snow again last night?"

Reborn watched Ryuuichi making a beeline to the wardrobe and pulled out a grey, sweater, quite large to be honest, and a pair of black trousers, and a pair of boxer. "Yep."

"No wonder your hands are so cold." Reborn smirked again. "You like it, don't you?"

"Yeah. But I was sleeping. Thank you very much." He chuckled at that sarcasm and followed Ryuuichi out of his room. "Oh, right. Do be careful. There are traps all around the house." Ryuuichi gave him a bewildered look at the glint in his eyes as he leaped away, downstairs where Sakura and Kei were already awake.

Ryuuichi tried to process that and immediately looked around. He slapped himself on the forehead and sighed, warily made his way to the toilet. "Right. The party. Of course."

"I think I'm going to die today."

\-----------------------------------------------------

Sometime after breakfast did the group started to arrive one by one, with Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto being the first. (Reborn arrived early, to prepare for the party with Sakura and Kei, who both were excited as well. Honestly though, who would be excited to with a party that has anything to do with Vongola's tradition? Not Tsuna nor Ryuuichi. They knew as much even if Reborn didn't say anything about it.)

Ryuuichi was again, lounging by the coach, pouting as Dino invited them in while wearing a reindeer costume. (He lost to Reborn in a bet, he said. He looked very comfortable in it though.) It irritated Ryuuichi. Honestly, they didn't allow him to do anything at all, other than laughing at Dino. He wanted to do something.

Then again, Reborn said that there were traps. He rather not risk it.

But still, it was irritating. Not being able to do anything.

He smiled and greeted the trio, ushering them to seat down on the sofa, he himself taking up the recliner. "Merry Christmas, guys."

"Merry Christmas as well, Ryuuichi." Tsuna grinned, before it faltered as he took in how Ryuuichi was seating. "Umm.." The teen was sprawled on the sofa, upper half of his body on the seat and the other half hanging off from the armrest. His laptop was on his stomach as he watched some sort of video and his baggy sweater was riding up on his back, showing the pale skin under it.

"Oh." Ryuuichi blinked. "Sorry. They wouldn't let me do anything and I was bored to death." He closed his laptop and tried to get up, to find that his ribs were protesting. "Help?" He looked helplessly at Yamamoto, who looked somewhere between wanting to laugh hysterically at how casual he was and worry. Yamamoto did laughed, but it was short as he carefully pulled Ryuuichi up.

Ryuuichi thanked him as he sat up and hurried back to his room to keep his laptop, limping. Yamamoto, Gokudera and Tsuna exchanged a look. "He doesn't look as though he had amnesia, honestly."

Gokudera then mumbled some possibilities and all, to which Yamamoto merely said, "Muscles memories, probably. And heart memories." Tsuna and Gokudera raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't think that has anything to do with muscles or heart memories." Dino said, sitting on where Ryuuichi was sitting before. "His laid-back personality should be something he has ever since his past life. To go with that, his instinct probably let him know that he could trust all of us and be this relaxed in front of us. Not really with another subordinate of mine. He changed instantly when that subordinate of mine came over to send something."

"And, he's slowly remembering things." Yuuichi added, wearing a red Santa hat as he walked into the living room with a tray of hot cocoa. He placed it on the coffee table which was pushed to the side, as how all the rest of the furniture were pushed to the side to leave a huge space in the middle. He passed the drinks to the three, kneeling on the ground.

All of them looked surprised at that. "Really?" Yuuichi nodded. "Yeah. He asked me if we went to the zoo before when we were younger."

"That's great!" Ryuuichi came in right on time, and managed to slammed into the wall. He yelped and back away, only to bump into someone.

Wincing as he rubbed his forehead, he turned to the person and bowed. "Sorry." And a pair of hands pulled his away from his forehead. "Stop rubbing. Let me see." He blinked, Hibari right in front of him and looking at the red spot on his forehead. He stopped the blush split second and tried to lean away.

"U-um. I'm fine, thank you.." Hibari raised an eyebrow at that. He let go of Ryuuichi's hands and rubbed the sore spot in a hard manner before walking into the living room. Ryuuichi yelped in pain and growled at the prefect as he walked to a corner that looked as though it was specially reserved for him, ignoring the rest of the occupants.

The others watched their interaction with amusement. (Tsuna realized that there was still some difference with the current Ryuuichi at that point.) Reborn then popped by out of nowhere. "Yo, Hibari."

"Infant. I hope you keep your promise."

"Don't worry. You'll get to spar with Tsuna for a week." The said brunette's eyes widen as he almost fell out of the sofa. "W-w-what?!"

And then a verbal fight happened since somewhere along the conversation, Gokudera jumped in and, everything went down. Ryuuichi rolled his eyes and walked over to Dino, squinting his eyes at the blonde before shrugging and flopped down onto his lap.

"R-ryuuichi?!" Hibari's glare shifted from Gokudera and Tsuna to Dino.

"You took up my seat." Ryuuichi ignored the spluttering mess Dino turned into and made himself comfortable, didn't notice the glare at all. He turned to Tsuna, who looked a bit red. "Is your mother and the kids coming? Because I might need to keep some things out of reach."

Tsuna almost asked what were the said things but resisted. "No. Dad came back. He and mom are going for a date. Lambo, Fuuta and I-Pin are coming with the girls later though. Bianchi went out searching for ingredients and Onii-san is coming as well."

Ryuuichi nodded thoughtfully before moving out of Dino's lap again and walked off. Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto looked confused, Dino finally calmed down and Hibari still haven't stop glaring at the poor blonde. Yuuichi was exasperated as he moved to join his brother in keeping said things away.

\----------------------------------------------------

Reborn gleefully watched the video from the surveillance cameras he had temporarily put up, with the house's owner's permission, of course. He had set a lot of traps here and there around the house, the toilet being off limits since, Reborn wasn't a pervert. However, he did placed a trap in the toilet downstairs, the camera just outside to see if the poor victims of his fell into them and promptly run out.

(He couldn't place any in the toilet upstairs since Kei said not to, something about Ryuuichi and Yuuichi didn't like anyone do anything with the things in that toilet. They couldn't care less about the other one.)

True to his expectation, when Ryuuichi went into the toilet again to put away some stuffs, as he had said, he screamed and ran out. Or more appropriate, limped out in a very fast pace, shouting. "Reborn!! You goddamn arse!" The said hitman  _cackled_.

It was a rather old Santa doll hanging by the door, popping down whenever the door open. It wasn't really scary, but it was so  _old_  and  _tattered_ and  _dirty_. Reborn wouldn't be surprised if it was cursed or anything. (No, it wasn't. He made sure of it.)

Looking at the other video, showing the living room, Hibari had practically leaped up a moment at Ryuuichi's scream only to stay put at the shouted words. Dino looked exasperated, however, being the very first victim to that.

Reborn smirked. Oh he was going to have  _soooo_  much fun.

\----------------------------------------------------

The party finally started when everyone arrived, including Amemori. All of them decided to seat on the ground and proceed with things.

And chaos.

Like, Ryuuichi couldn't comprehend what was happening. First was the usual thing, all of them try to impress Reborn with whatever they have. And then there's punishments, obviously. (He managed to not get punished, fortunately.) And then came truth or dare. He couldn't understand why would they play truth or dare for a Christmas party anyway, but went along since it was hilarious.

"Truth or dare, Ryuuichi?"

He leaned back at that glint in Reborn's eyes. "... Truth." Reborn softly clicked his tongue but fished out a question from the box with the word 'Truth' plastered on. "Among everyone in this room, who would you date? You cannot choose your blood family."

Ryuuichi glared at Reborn. He had wanted to say either Yuuichi since, well, they're twins. He looked over at everyone who seemed interested somehow and paused. A smirk appeared on his face. "You."

Reborn raised an amused eyebrow, clearly heard the mischief in the tone. "Oh?" Ryuuichi, couldn't really take it anymore, threw his head back and laughed. "Who knows~"

(Two certain teens wasn't exactly amused, however.)

"Lambo-san knows!" Lambo suddenly interfered, running up to Ryuuichi from Kyoko and Haru. "You're going to date me!" Ryuuichi smiled, choking back a laughter. "Really?"

Lambo haughtily nodded. "Yep!" And he was sent flying onto Ryuuichi's lap from the boxing glove that shot out of Reborn's gun. "Shut up, stupid-cow."

Ryuuichi jolted. 'I did not see that coming. Wait I did. But not onto my lap.'

Lambo, as expected, cried. He tried to hold it in, but he couldn't endure it. Among the gibberish of Lambo's wails, he pulled the bazooka out of his hair, much to everyone's chagrin.

"Lambo- no!" Before anyone could stop the child, the bazooka went off. Pink smoke obscured their sight as the wailing along with everyone's chatter stopped. They waited for the smoke to disperse when a low voice surprised them. "Umm.."

The pink smoke finally gone, and their eyes all widen, Chrome immediately covered both I-Pin and Fuuta's eyes. "This is really a bad timing.." An older Ryuuichi with tussled, untied hair and a barely buttoned up and crumpled white button down shirt sat in place of their current Ryuuichi. He was cradling a sleeping Lambo, who somehow managed to fall asleep the minute he accidentally shot Ryuuichi.

He smiled in exasperation at the child and handed him back to Kyoko. "Here. You better hold him." The girl nodded, blushing and stunned. Ryuuichi then realized that all of their eyes were on him and flushed slightly. He quickly buttoned up his shirt and brushed his hair down. "Sorry." He laughed nervously.

He scanned everyone in the living room, taking in their stunned face before his eyes widen when his sight fell on Amemori. Amemori frowned at how badly the man tensed up upon seeing him. He wondered why he looked so damn shocked and sad. Dino snapped out of his shock and frowned in concern. "Ryuuichi?"

As though as he was in a trance, Ryuuichi managed to compose himself by Dino's voice and turned to the blonde, taking his eyes off from the teen. "Are you alright?" "A-ah. Yeah." He looked absolutely shaken, given how his hands curled up into a tight fist. He bit his lower lips and pushed all of his emotions down. "BakaRyuu." He blinked at Reborn, who suddenly jumped onto his shoulder.

"Were you making out?" (Most turned red at that, Reborn noted. Kids.)

Ryuuichi's face heated up. He quickly swatted Reborn's hand away from a particular red spot on his neck and covered it up. He growled at the grin Reborn had. "It isn't what you think it is." The glint in those dark black orbs irked him, so he decided to get a small revenge.

" _Well, your older self isn't that bad_." He whispered lowly in Italian into the hitman's ears as he gave him a feral grin. Reborn gave him a blank look when his mental countdown almost ended. "Well, see you." He gave one last fleeting glance at Amemori before disappearing, the present Ryuuichi taking his place, looking absolutely flustered.

"That was unexpected." Yamamoto said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhum. This is kind of like, the first part? The Christmas party. It'll continue in the next chapter, but it'll be short. Somehow.
> 
> I noticed that my writing style changed somewhere in the middle before it changed back. That was when I realized what I read can influence my writing style. How weird.
> 
> Fun Fact= The twins did went to the zoo with their parents when they were younger. About the age of 4/5?
> 
> I realized, half way while typing this chapter, that Ryuuichi's character went back to the usual Ryuuichi despite being Past!Ryuuichi. But it was fun.
> 
> Fun Fact= That red spot on TYL!Ryuuichi is actually caused by the round tip of a pencil stabbed on his neck for too long. *smirks* Whatever you guys are thinking will come next, not really, but *chuckles evilly*
> 
> Ehhhh, right. About Reborn and Ryuuichi, it's some kind of a joke. Though, any more development or anything at all, it'll probably be in another arc.
> 
> I didn't miss anything, did I?
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	70. To Where, Shall We Head?

There are many things Ryuuichi had as the last thing to expect on his list. Many  _many_ things. Well,  _were_ , now. Being reincarnated was one, being a guy in this world was one, hell being in a supposedly non-existing world was one. And suddenly popping into the future out of nowhere because of the damn bazooka other than the time Tsuna told him about the Future-that-was-never-meant-to-be was one.

Actually, that, he could expect if he was ever around Lambo because, Lambo. However, what he had not expect was  _this_.

As in, he was literally  _pinned_   _down_  underneath one twenty-six years old  _Hibari-fudging-Kyouya_. To go with that, the man was wearing a loose, black yukata.

Ryuuichi had never wanted to just, sink down into the wooden floor he was lying on and disappear so  _badly_  before.

"Oh?" He flushed as Hibari raised an eyebrow. Hibari's voice wasso _low_  and with how close he was to the man at this moment, he could  _feel_  the vibration. Not to mention he could feel the heat from the man as well. "That child again?" Ryuuichi stuttered a yes, trying to make himself smaller because, he was inches away from outright freaking out.

"U-um, c-could you..?" Hibari arched his eyebrows higher, noticing something strange. "Ah. Right. You lost your memories at this moment, didn't you?" He shuffled and moved, sitting up as he pulled the younger up as well.

Ryuuichi tried to calm his heart down, a bit too overwhelmed, yet he couldn't help but be curious. "W-what," He coughed and cleared his voice. "What are you and my older self... Doing?"

He so did not need that smirk.

"This and that." Hibari drawled. It was amusing, and Ryuuichi was fun to tease when he's flustered. That, he knew very well. It was quite a pity that his Ryuuichi doesn't get embarrassed easily now. He had gotten very bold and sadistic as well. Hibari chuckled internally at how the younger heated up again.

"Are you alright? Your face is red."

Ryuuichi slapped both his hands on his warm cheeks, rubbing a little and turned away slightly. "Y-yeah." Oh he know that the man was teasing him. He could tell by how those greyish blue eyes twinkled. He forcefully willed the blood to flow back down and breathed inaudibly. He opened and frowned, looking around the room.

"Where is this?" It was a traditional Japanese room, empty other than the both of them. "One of the storage room of my house, Namimori." He blinked, tilting his head slightly. "Your house?"

Hibari nodded, leaning back slightly. "If you're wondering, we're on a month break." He watched how Ryuuichi took in the information. He could hear the gears moving and more questions forming, but he knew better than to say anything else. Whatever is in the future, shall stay in the future. As how the past shall stay in the past. Quoted from Ryuuichi, of course. "See you, small animal."

He leaned in a gave the younger a peck on the forehead, surprising the living daylight out of Ryuuichi as he disappeared in a poof, face red.

He chuckled at that reaction, but stopped when he saw the scowl on Ryuuichi, the Ryuuichi of this time. "What's wrong?"

Ryuuichi's mouth opened and closed again, his body twitching as a sign that he had no idea how to convey his thoughts. "You remember the one time I lost my memories?"

"Of course." Hibari could never forget that time. No. Not how fragile Ryuuichi was, not how awkward he was at times, and definitely not what happened during that period. Then he frowned. "You saw him, didn't you?" He shifted and let Ryuuichi lean against him languidly, letting out a shaky laugh.

"Why wouldn't I? It's Christmas and the party.  _Everyone_  was invited remember?" He rubbed Ryuuichi's arm, pulling him closer. "I.. I just wish that that incident would be different for my younger self."

Hibari could hear the sadness from Ryuuichi, could hear the plead in his voice, and could  _feel_  how the latter was feeling. "That is your younger self's path, Ryuuichi. It no longer has anything to do with you."

Ryuuichi looked up to him, meeting him in the eyes. Those dark brown orbs were wavering, shifting from resignation to helplessness and back to resignation. "I know.. It's just.." His voice faltered, the rest of the words unspoken but Hibari knew what he wanted to say.

Hibari merely leaned in wordlessly.

\-----------------------------------------------------

The party ended really late, sometime around midnight. Sakura and Kei insisted all of them to stay over for the night as it was dangerous for them to wonder about in the dark, even though they knew how strong each and one of them are. So they had a sleepover, in another words.

Ryuuichi lent the girls and the kids his room despite the protest, saying that he could hijack Yuuichi's bed. Of course, they tried to reason with him but he wasn't going to let them sleep with a bunch of hormonal male teenagers even when they won't do anything. Without much choice, the girls relented and retired into his room.

Most of them had already fallen asleep, exhausted from their activities, which mainly because of Reborn's prank and the snow ball fight they had at the very last moment, with Ryuuichi being the referee. Ryuuichi smiled at how Tsuna, Enma, Gokudera and Yamamoto slept near the sofa on the floor, almost cuddling as it was cold, and covered them with a large blanket. He passed another blanket to Hibari, who was awake and sitting by a corner.

Yuuichi was doing the same to Ryohei, who literally passed out on the floor, passing the blanket to the still awake Mukuro, who took one corner for himself, opposite of Hibari's. (Surprisingly, he didn't get into a fight with Hibari at all, keeping clear at all times. Made Ryuuichi wonder why, but he would take the chance. He rather not have his house destroyed.)

Ryuuichi chuckled at how those two glared at each other before turning away. He looked around and tried to find Amemori. Raising an eyebrow, he walked out of the living room to the dining room as Yuuichi went ahead to bed, their parents long returned into their room.

He sighed softly at Amemori. The teen was staring off into space, looking absolutely dazed. "What's wrong?" He said softly, knowing that there were light sleepers in the house. He walked up to the dining table and sat opposite of Amemori, aware that those dark blue eyes were following him.

There was a pause as Ryuuichi waited for a reply. ".. When your older self appeared.." Amemori started slowly. "He looked as though he saw a ghost when he saw me."

Ryuuichi blinked in surprise. "He said nothing to me, but he looked afraid, you know." Amemori sighed, frustration in it. "Do you think something would happen?"

Ryuuichi hummed for a moment, leaning back. ".. I wouldn't know. I don't even know why would my older self be afraid of you. It's not like you would bite, much, anyway." He shrugged. "And perhaps, that's a path. There's a lot of parallel world, remember? Maybe what happened to my older self wouldn't happen to what we will go through. Maybe nothing will happen as well. Who knows."

Amemori looked at Ryuuichi, sizing him up a little. 'Will everything really stays the same if I told you..?' He wondered solemnly, lips pulled thin. ".. It's really late. You should go to sleep soon."

"I had sugar just now, it's a bit hard." He chuckled softly.

Ryuuichi returned a smile before standing up. "Well, alright. Here." He passed the blanket to Amemori. "I don't think sleeping on the dining table would be good to your bones, so yeah. Go sleep on the couch or something. Good night."

"Yeah. Good night, Ryuuichi."

\-----------------------------------------------------

_It wasn't everyday that Mukuro would have visitors in his dreams. In fact, other than Chrome during the period he was in the damn prison, practically no one is able to pop by in his dreams. Until Ryuuichi, asking him to seal his memories and the current Ryuuichi, asking why he did so after finding out that he was the one who sealed it._

_A bit ironic, and hilarious._

_He chuckled, ignoring the look from the other who sat beside him on the grass. "You should ask yourself. You're the one who requested for this after all. Ah," He mused for a moment. "No, my apologies. You didn't ask for this. He did." Ryuuichi frowned but said nothing as Mukuro continued._

_"The only reason he gave was, 'couldn't let go'. I do not understand that bit despite allowed to look into your mind, but I've an inkling that it has something to do with that friend of yours."_

_".. You mean Hibiki?" Mukuro hummed. "Whatever his name is."_

_Ryuuichi thought of what the bluenette had said, wondering. He couldn't understand why he himself, before all of these, wanted Mukuro to seal his memories. What the purpose was, Ryuuichi didn't know and couldn't see any benefits in it. It just confused him more and brought on a whole lot of trouble, not just to him but to everyone else as well. In addition, Mukuro was brought into this whole plan of his, no offense to the teen however. And what does 'couldn't let go' meant anyway?_

_'Ah.' His eyes widen and narrowed. He clutched his arms and brought his knees closer to his chest. He pursed his lips into a thin line, trying really hard not to wring his arms right there, right then. 'This is not a bloody chess game..'_

_If there's anything other than his own beliefs that he couldn't let go, it was Alex, is Amemori. He was his childhood friend, was his brother and is his best friend. They used to fit together as partners, like how two puzzle pieces are able to fit together perfectly. Yet, because of his reincarnation, everything shattered, puzzle no longer fixable. Alex, on the other hand, was no longer the Alex he knew despite the similarity. Ryuuichi saw it immediately after spotting him, but he ignored it._

_He was naive. He believed that everything would be alright eventually, but it would never be alright anymore. Nothing will._

_He probably saw all these, when he still had his memories, which was why he wanted Mukuro to seal his memories up. He wanted to plan his moves on what would happen without being biased._

_"... This is stupid.." For he could never be not biased, no matter what situation it is._

_"Is it, now? I think it's brilliant." He said nothing in returned, knowing exactly the second and third reason to his decision._

_"So having to peek into my brain is the payment?"_

_"Kufufufu~"_

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi breathed in the fresh air and sighed, smiling slightly as small mist formed. He  _finally_  could come out after much begging. His parents just wouldn't let him do  _anything_ , much less take a single step out of the house. His brother wasn't any better. It was only when Tsuna and the others coming over for a few hours did it cured his boredom, other than using his laptop all day.

"Ryuuichi, where- Ryuuichi?!" Dino looked around, eyes wide in panic as he tried to find the said teen who should be beside him. Sakura had told him to watch over the teen and never take his eyes off him, but Dino had a call and was forced to. When he was done after merely  _twenty seconds_ , Ryuuichi was already gone. How did he even walk so fast?

The said teen happily walked around the neighborhood, making a mental map as he really didn't want to get lost somehow. He took in how the houses were decorated with colorful lighting, the Christmas spirit still high despite it was two days ago. He trotted over to a T-junction and saw an empty field. His eyes sparkled as he made a beeline over. The white snow was untouched, Ryuuichi being the first to stumble upon it.

With a grin, he walked into the middle and bent down as much as he could, gathering the snow with his bare hands once again. He didn't really thought of bringing anything much other than his scarf and coat, and the thick boots he was wearing. Once he managed to get a snow ball formed, he rolled it on the ground again and again until it got bigger.

He stopped when the snow ball was up to his waist, his phone suddenly rang.

"Hello-"

"Ryuuichi! where are you?!" It was Dino. The man was shouting through the phone, panic clear in his voice. Ryuuichi had to pull his phone away from his ear at how loud the blonde was. "Please don't shout. I'm at.." He looked around. "I've no idea."

"Hah?!"

"But I'm at this empty lot, building snowman. Find me." With that, he dropped the call and snickered. Pocketing his phone, he bent down to make another snow ball and rolled it. Just as he stopped after getting the size he wanted, he spotted something brown at the edge of his eyes. He frowned and stared at the roots of the leafless trees, slowly walking over. "Ryuuichi?"

He turned around to see Amemori blinking at him from where he was standing on the road. "Oh, Hibiki. Hello." Amemori frowned and walked over to where he was. "What are you doing out here alone."

"I'm not alone. I'm with Dino. Just, lost him somewhere." Ryuuichi shrugged. Amemori was about to say something again when a weak meow interrupted him. Their eyes widen and looked towards the source of the sound. Ryuuichi immediately limped over to the brown thing he saw just now and gasped.

Cursing, he quickly bent down and dug the brown kitten out of the snow, feeling it trembling and losing heat, His own freezing hands weren't helping much. "Hibiki!" Amemori clicked his tongue and helped out, taking the kitten into his arms. "Shit- It's freezing." He quickly burrowed the kitten into his coat and rubbed it, trying to heat it up. "My apartment is just nearby, let's go!"

And they headed off, Amemori running fast as Ryuuichi tried to follow as fast as he could without injuring himself any further. Just as they disappeared around a corner, Dino arrived at the spot and sobbed. "Where the hell are you, Ryuuichi?!!"

Amemori almost ripped the door knob off as he scurried in and headed to the portable heater, turning it up to max. Ryuuichi came in soon after and closed the door. He hurried over to Amemori and watched him trying to keep the kitten alive with concern. "How is it?"

"Not good."

Biting his lips, Ryuuichi sat down and took his ring out from the chain around his neck that he had chained it to when he played in the snow. He slid in onto his right middle finger and hovered his hands over the kitten. Amemori gave him a questioning look, but when he saw the soft glowing of sky flames, he understood.

Ryuuichi stroked the kitten, trying to pull it back to life as he could literally feel it slipping away. He stroked it a few more times when it slowly blinked, still shaking. Their eyes widen and a grin settled on their face, sighing in relief. Amemori handed the kitten to Ryuuichi as he went to grab a towel to wrap it around the kitten.

"This is surprising, honestly." Ryuuichi muttered, taking the towel when Amemori handed it over and gently wrapped the kitten in it. "I didn't think that we would find a kitten buried under the snow."

"Me neither, but we did found a dog down in a ditch once, didn't we?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I remember that. You were the one who brought it out, right?" He chuckled and handed the kitten back to Amemori. It softly meowed at Amemori, looking better. "I think I'm going to keep it." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yep."

He smiled. "Well, if that's your plan. Never thought that you would be so smitten by a kitten at first glance though." He snickered when his phone rang again. "Sorry." He picked it up as Amemori shook his head, cooing at the kitten. "Dino-"

"Ryuuichi. Please don't disappear ever again. My heart can't take it." He sweated at the cry. "You mother is scary, you know. Where  _are_ you?"

"Opps? I'm at Amemori's at the moment."

"What?"

"We found a kitten under the snow, and since his house is closer, we decided to bring it here. It was heading off to the Sun but we brought it back to Jupiter." He deadpanned. Amemori smacked him at the back of his head lightly. He gave Dino the address as the blonde ordered him to stay put and  _wait_  for him.

"Really? The Sun and Jupiter?"

"You try going to the sun. You'll  _melt_. And Jupiter is awesome." Amemori sweated. "I never thought that you're that interested on space stuff."

"I don't." He gave Ryuuichi a look, receiving a shrug in return as he smacked him again. Ryuuichi merely laughed it off and leaned back, suddenly feeling tired from the sudden exercise. And his legs hurt.

"I'll name it Jupiter then."

"..." Ryuuichi smacked Amemori in a hard manner, watching the teen cooed at the kitten with a solemn look. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Do you resent me?" Amemori snapped his head to him, eyes wide in surprise. "Do you hate me for what happened? Do you hate me for leaving you?"

Amemori gaped like a fish before he swallowed and looked back at the kitten, scratching it's neck. "I do." Ryuuichi heart fell, letting out a shaky breath. He had expected that, but it still hurt hearing it.

"But I hate myself more for not being able to let you go."

"Eh?" Amemori lifted his head, dark blue eyes met dark brown ones. "I love you, Ryuuichi. Ever since we're just kids."

The said teen suddenly became aware of everything around him, how small Amemori's apartment actually is, how hot the atmosphere was because of the heater, and how close he was sitting beside Amemori. He was absolutely dumbfounded. His mouth was agape as he tried to say something. It wasn't even a joke, and Ryuuichi was well aware that it wasn't. Amemori's eyes were flashing in red as he said that, absolutely serious.

"Hibiki, I-" Loud knocking interrupted him. "Ryuuichi!"

He bit the inside of his cheeks and stood up, walking up the door while picking his scarf up from the ground and wore his boots. Amemori merely watched wordlessly, never moving from his spot. "Give me some time.." Was all Ryuuichi said as he closed the door, leaving with the blonde and not looking at Amemori even once.

Amemori sighed and turned back to the kitten, who blinked at him. "I screwed up, didn't I?" The kitten merely tilted its head.

\------------------------------------------------------

Dino glanced at Ryuuichi, who was lost in space. "Something happened, right?" He knew from the way how Ryuuichi snapped himself out of it and looked at him, lips pulled thin, that something really happened during the span of less than half an hour they were outside. The teen's eyes were flickering somehow, not fully meeting his eyes. A habit of Ryuuichi when something bothered him. He probably did it unconsciously, Dino mused.

He patiently waited for him to say something, walking slowly beside the slightly limping teen to the shopping district. ".. Have you ever loved someone? Past and present tense." He blinked.

"In what term?"

"As in, loving someone more than friends, family, or anything else; loving someone romantically." Dino hummed for a moment, pulling his left hand out from his coat's pocket. "Not really. There were a few crushes here and there, but not really. I haven't found the right one." He chuckled weakly. It was no secret that he had being in relationships before, but there was no love between. The ones he dated was either because he was bored, or they were persistent. Most of them wanted his wealth and reputation anyway. (He sounded like a bad person, but really, those greedy arses had it coming. And he didn't want to indulge in them.)

He sure hope that he would find the right one someday.

"How does it feel then?"

That, he frowned. He really didn't know how to answer. Love, is a topic that no one can answer. Not fully anyway. Everyone has different thoughts on love. It's really wide, and diverse. And confusing. Really confusing. "Well, for me, it's like you want to protect someone with all your life."

He watched how Ryuuichi's nose scrunched up slightly. ".. I want to protect all of you?" He chuckled again, leaning more towards amusement. "Yes, similar, but it's different. It's a feeling that you wouldn't be able to describe verbally, Ryuuichi." He ruffled the younger's hair, much to Ryuuichi's annoyance. "You'll know it one day."

He pulled him closer to his body when he nodded, grinning. "So, did someone confessed to _mio fratellino_?" Ryuuichi knocked him on the chest because he couldn't reach his head with his shorter stature. Dino is such a giant. "Since when I became your younger brother?"

"Since you're born. Now tell me."

Ryuuichi sighed, a smile on his face. "Secret~" He laughed when Dino whined, nudging him. "Come on! Tell me!" Suddenly, Dino's eyes narrowed and he tensed up. He cursed out loud and pulled Ryuuichi into a narrowed alley, pulling his whip out. "What's wrong?" Ryuuichi whispered, trying to see what was going on from Dino's back.

A chill ran down his spine as he turned to the alley and saw a man in suits with a large machine gun slowly walking towards him. He took a small step back, bumping into Dino slightly. The blonde cursed in every language he knew under his breath, almost making Ryuuichi cringe at some of them. A few other men wearing suits with guns blocked their exit. They were surrounded.

Secretly, Dino pressed a tiny switch under his coat, knowing that he couldn't fight against this many while watching over Ryuuichi. 'Ahhh.. Shit.'

\---------------------------------------- **Bonus** \-------------------------------------------

When Ryuuichi woke up the next morning, all of them had already returned home to rest before, who knows, training? Well, most of them. The first thing he saw when he walked downstairs after washing up, was to see Hibari and Amemori having a stare-off on the dining table. Specifically, the older Hibari from the future, in suits. Still delirious from sleep, he merely glanced at them before heading to the fridge where a note was stuck onto it.

Apparently, his parents went out for a date, his brother got dragged out by Dino, and Dino by Reborn, his breakfast under the cover.

He glanced back at the table, where the both of them still hadn't stop staring at each other, and saw the cover. He yawned and took a seat beside Hibari, opposite of Amemori. "Mind explaining? I can't think at the moment."

"That child used the bazooka again. It's broken, so it seems." Hibari still didn't take his eyes off of Amemori. Ryuuichi swore he saw electric sparking out from their stare-off, but he was still half asleep, so god help him. He really didn't want to start hallucinating. He nodded and took his breakfast out from the cover, pancakes. Nice. He took the fork and cut the pancakes into smaller pieces, popping one into his mouth.

"So are you guys raping each other with your eyes?" They both turned to him, looking absolutely scandalized. "... It was a joke." He rolled his eyes when they still didn't drop the look.

"Anyways, how long have you been here?" He asked Hibari, chewing. "For almost ten minutes." "Ah. It's really broken. Okay."

And silence, other than the fork scraping on the plate slightly. "Ryuuichi, you've something here." Amemori pointed out, poking the edge of his own lips. He smiled in exasperation when the other wiped the other side, but before he could do anything, Hibari had already wiped it off with his fingers.

"Maple."

Amemori glared at the man.

Ryuuichi scrunched his nose at him and shifted away slightly, a small red hue on his cheeks. "Thanks." He muttered and quickly entertained himself in his own thoughts, immediately lost into space as he absentmindedly ate.

In the meantime, the two decided to continue their stare-off, sending messages with their eyes.

'He's mine.'

'Like hell he is.'

Pink smoke surrounded them and the older Hibari was replaced by the Hibari of their time, scowling. "Welcome back to Mars. How was Jupiter?" Ryuuichi snickered as the prefect scowled harder. "Awful." He laughed, almost choking on the pancake. Amemori leaned on the table, nonchalantly commenting. "Probably because you sucks."

"And you swallow."

Okay, Ryuuichi did choked. He coughed and stood up, rushing to the counter to pour himself a cup of water. Chugging down the water, he sighed in relief before laughing hysterically in silence, voice not coming out. He tried to stop himself, but ended up laughing harder and sank down onto the floor, gasping for much needed oxygen.

"Ryuuichi, that was  _unnecessary_."

"B-b-but-!!" He heaved, finally stopping, a permanent grin fixed on his face. He sat back down on the chair, the both of them glaring at each other  _again_. "If I didn't knew better, I would have thought that the both of you did it."

Amemori stood up and knocked him on the head while Hibari stabbed him with the end of his tonfa on his side, missing his ribs. "Ouch!" Ryuuichi merely laughed it off, rubbing those sore spots. He quickly finished off his food and washed the plate and fork.

"Well, since the both of you got nothing better to do, why don't we all hang out somewhere?" They gave him a pointed look. "Oh come on. I want some fresh air. And 'sides, I'll be fine. There. Settled."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cough* So the mafia appeared! And it wasn't even planned! Hahahahaha! *slap self*
> 
> Sooooo, if any of you are wondering about the first part, yes. That happened. Really. They're an item. It's kind of obvious after sooooo long and multiple teases and teasers. I had and have soooo much fun. And yes. They, *push two doll together, face to face* *grins*
> 
> There's no reference or anything with the Sun and Jupiter thing. It looked plain, so I put that there. And the kitten being named as Jupiter is like, a sudden thing.... I've seriously no idea what is wrong with my brain.
> 
> Mio fratellino, or il mio fratellino, means my little brother in Italian.
> 
> Fun Fact= Dino like lil bros. He can't do without them. Point, Tsuna, Ryuuichi, Yuuichi and Hibari. Well, Hibari is more like a student thingy but still there was still consideration on that.
> 
> Actually, the fact that Dino could only fight when his subordinates are around, is still there, but when seriously bad situations happen, he still can fight without them around. That, and Ryuuichi was there, he could fight, but with Ryuuichi's condition and the fact that Ryuuichi's unarmed? Not a chance. He rather not have Ryuuichi injured again. Hence, the tiny-measly-useless-button-but-actually-very-useful-which-btw-is-a-SOS-slash-tracker was pushed. There.
> 
> Fun Fact= Dino is very scared of Sakura. She can be quite a demon sometimes. He isn't sure about Kei, since he never really saw the man losing his composure. A few of his subordinates did, and was thoroughly traumatized, though.
> 
> Fun Fact= TYL!Ryuuichi and TYL!Hibari were playing a shrewd version of hide-and-seek, with Hibari as a seeker. Somehow, Hibari managed to find Ryuuichi, and the proceeded to pin him down and- Your imaginations can go wild from here on. And the crumpled, unbutton shirt was yes, Hibari's fault. *chuckling evilly*  
> 
> Ryuuichi is and always will be a fluff ball, but right now, a confused fluff ball.
> 
> The bonus part is a draft I had, when the mafia thingy wasn't pulled in. I never really intended to involve the mafia into this arc, but things and things, I just had to. And I think it's obvious that they would be kidnapped? Right? 
> 
> And okay, that was indeed a sexual innuendo in the Bonus. I'm soooooo sorrynotsorry. It's Hibari. And there's a chance, so why not?
> 
> Uhum uhum uhum. I'll stop it here. I felt like I've forgotten something though.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]


	71. If War is What They Want, Then War They Shall Get

The tea-cup in Kei's hand shattered into tiny pieces at what Romario had said.

"Excuse me?" Romario sweated at how Kei's eyes were shadowed by his bangs, the hand still clenching around the cup despite blood dripping down onto the table. He stopped himself from shivering at the dark aura the man was emitting. (Truly, Kei is the devil killer of their famiglia. Sakura may be a scary one, but Kei, if infuriated, hell fire doesn't even hold a candle against his fury. Sometimes, Romario wondered if Kei was to go against Reborn, would he win? Though, Kei is a pacifist of a kind, killing only when needed, only when ordered, and only when he felt really unjust.)

Romario pushed down the slight fear bubbling inside him. Fear for the pitiful ones, who dared to kidnap two of Cavallone's most treasured people. Well, one is, another will be. He coughed and repeated himself. "Boss pressed the SOS button. Our men didn't managed to get there in time; he was taken away. The tracker is still working, and still moving. And.." He hesitated for a split second. "Ryuuichi is with them as well."

Yuuichi panicked, stumbling up from his sitting position. He panicked because his brother and cousin were kidnapped. His precious brother. "T-then let's go get them back! What are you guys still waiting for!" Before Romario could say anything, Sakura was already there to stop her son.

"Yuu-kun, calm down." To hell with calm. Who the hell could be calm at this moment? His brother's life is at stake here. Yuuichi opened his mouth to retort, but snapped shut when he saw his mother's face. Grudgingly, he sat back down, leg jumping a mile per second.

Sakura was, unsurprisingly enraged, but despite the dark look on her face, her eyes was swirling with concern. She couldn't lose her composure no matter what now. She need to be their back bone when situation arise, need to be Kei's support as her husband do what he does, as always.

She went to the study room and took her laptop out, went back to the living room where Romario had explained the situation. Sitting between the man and Kei, she started it up and held her hand out. "Pendrive."

Romario handed her a small pendrive as Kei unclenched his hand, the pieces of ceramic falling down on the table. Kei lifted his head as his normally peaceful teal eyes were flashing in burning rage, simmering, looking very calm on the outside.

"Sakura, coordinates."

"Still moving. The signal is disrupted. Might lose it if they keep going."

Kei remain unfazed by that. "Any idea which bastard is the culprit?" Romario nodded. "Presumedly, the Famiglia boss should have met before we rushed here. The Stolto."

Kei nodded. "I'm presuming that the Don is here as well. If he is, at least 250 of his men is here. If not, I say a hundred. How many of ours is on land, ready to move out at any time?"

"50. Boss insisted that the rest get a week off back in our base." Kei nodded once again. This is bad. They haven't even plan anything, and they're already at disadvantage with the difference in amount of men on deck. They wouldn't survive this whole ordeal if they attack head on.

"Let's do with that amount." They turn their heads to the hallway, where a panting Tsuna and Reborn perched on the brunette's shoulder was. The hitman wasn't at his usual, a dark glint in his eyes. "Tsuna and his guardians are going to aid you. In another words, Vongola is lending you their hands."

Kei frowned. "This is Cavallone's problem. We can't drag Vongola in and trouble you guys."

Tsuna interjected, finally got his breathing steady. His eyes were narrowed, slightly orange rather than the usual brown. "Ryuuichi and Dino-san are our friend, our family as well. We will never leave them in trouble. They are  _ours_." If anything, he sounded possessive there. Reborn merely smirked, approving.

"I've called Nono. He allowed since Stolto isn't an allied Famiglia. A 'possible enemy', he said. It'll be killing two birds with one stone, no? Besides, that's a student of mine they took." He added as Tsuna sat down beside Yuuichi, patting the teen on the shoulder. Reborn's smirk was tinted heavily with bloodlust, eyes promising death.

Kei's frown didn't drop as he thought over it. He looked at Romario, who nodded, and sighed. "Very well. Do as you like. However, I hope this doesn't affect both of our Famiglia's relationship."

"It won't. We will be going as ourselves, rather than representing Vongola." He studied the brunette, a small smile forming. The Vongola will be alright in the hands of this brunette, if not, flourish. He knew of the Vongola history, how it started off as a vigilant group before the Secondo's reign. With this brunette, this Sawada Tsunayoshi, Kei knew that Vongola will change once again. Kei couldn't help but felt relief that his sons has such good friends, despite being in the Mafia.

His smile drop. "Let's get to business."

\---------------------------------------------------

Dino gritted his teeth. His hands were cuffed on his back, his legs chained up as well. He had been trying to rip it off, but it was made out of  _metal_. Obviously, he couldn't literally rip it. At least they have the decency to prop him up on sitting position, rather than lying down. He sighed in annoyance, and glanced to the unconscious Ryuuichi, who has being chained up as well. The younger had his head on Dino's lap, falling into that position after being pushed into this dark, cramped van. Said van was still moving despite so long.

Ryuuichi had struggled, obviously. He didn't like the thought of being kidnap so willingly. Even though he knew it was a futile attempt, he still did struggle, shouting loudly for help at the top of his lungs. One of the men had to knock him out because of that, much to Dino's curses at them.

The blonde swear to whoever was listening up or down, that he'll rip their intestines out and feed them their own guts through the ears and nostrils.

Right now, Dino could only hope for his men to hurry up. 'In the meantime.. I should pick this cuffs open..'

\---------------------------------------------------

_Ryuuichi stared at his carbon copy, stared at himself who was in the glass container. He had been staring for quite long, honestly. How long, he didn't know, but he felt that it had been centuries. Slowly moving up to him, he lifted a hand and placed it near the face._

_The indigo flames shifted slightly. Ryuuichi noticed how it was getting thinner as time passed. He found it quite strange, yet he didn't have the mood to deal with it. He sighed and placed his own forehead against the glass, directly above the other's. He wasn't even looking at him, simply staring to the side._

_"Do you think we like Hibiki the way he likes us?" The unconscious Ryuuichi didn't even shift at that. Ryuuichi didn't mind. He had expected it. "We don't deserve him, you know. We aren't the one for him. But what do we truly feel..?"_

_He had been thinking about it, non-stop. Honestly, Ryuuichi do like Amemori, but he felt that it was more of friendship love. He had never thought of Amemori like that. He did, imagined that she and Alex wouldn't separate in the future before, but it he had never imagined themselves as a couple. He couldn't, somehow. It just doesn't sit right._

_But he definitely felt something for Amemori._

_Sighing again, he turned to look directly at the face that was similar to him. "Hey, how long are you going to stay asleep? I don't belong here, you know? It's time for you to take your back your place." He stared, the indigo mist disappearing until there was none. Dark brown eyes slowly cracked open, glinting slightly. Ryuuichi remained unfazed, staring into his eyes, unwavering._

_".. You do belong here."_

_He, or rather, she, shook her head slightly, long black hair shifting along with the movement. "No, I don't."_

_"You're me. I'm you. I belong here, you belong here as well."_

_She smiled. "Yes, I'm you and you're me. We do belong here, but_ I, _don't." She chuckled, Ryuuichi's hands rose up to where she had placed her's against the glass, pressing against it. A small crack was heard. "I'm a part of you, Ryuuichi. I know that very well. But I'm also a fragment of the past."_

_The glass cracked again. "_ I _belong to the past. You belong to the present. I need to return to my rightful place, the past in you, just as you need to return to yours. I won't disappear though." The marks spread up until it obscured their sight on each other slightly. "I'll still be in you." The glass shattered into million pieces. Their hands touched, foreheads leaning against each other, Ryuuichi taller than her. Gripping onto her hand, Ryuuichi looked away from her eyes a moment before looking up again._

_"Are you sure?"_

_"Yep!" He slowly nodded._

_"Thank you."_

_She grinned brightly at that, glowing. "No. Thank_ you _, Ryuuichi." Ryuuichi returned a smile and hugged her as she slowly disappeared. Ryuuichi closed his eyes, basking in the warmth._

\---------------------------------------------------

"So it's set. The first wave will be me, Romario and the rest. We'll break through their defense. The next wave will be Reborn, Sawada-kun and his guardians. You will head straight to Dino and Ryuu." All of them nodded, all set up and ready to head out at anytime. Tsuna's guardians were all present, excluding Chrome who Tsuna told to stay with the girls in case anything happened. (Bianchi and his father will be with Nana and the kids, so he wasn't too worried about them.)

Mukuro was present as well. He had appeared moments after the signal disappeared, before Tsuna could even told him anything, saying that it was interesting so he would join. That, and he still has the slight connection with Ryuuichi, so he could somehow pin point where they were.

Hibari, surprisingly, said nothing of the bluenette's involvement as he stood far away from them in silence. He was seething. Someone  _dared_  to disrupt the discipline of Namimori  _and_  kidnapped both his mentor and Ryuuichi. It pissed him off  _so damn much_. He almost snapped his phone in two when Reborn called him because of this. (He didn't know how the hitman managed to get his number, but he didn't care about that.)

"Why can't I go?" Yuuichi was scowling as he asked his father. He wasn't happy that Kei forbid him to follow them and told him to stay with his mother.

"I've already explained to you, Yuu. It's too dangerous."

"And it's not dangerous for you guys?! I want to help!" His voice gradually got louder, inches away from outright shouting at his father. Kei merely shook his head, not surprised that his son was angry. He walked nearer to Yuuichi and hugged him. "That's not it. I need you to protect your mother."

"But-!"

"I know your mother is well capable of protecting herself, but as a man, I need you to watch her back if anything happens. Protect her, alright?" Yuuichi gritted his teeth. He hated this. He hated how useless he felt at times. Deep down, he knew that if he go, he would be nothing but a hindrance, but he still wanted to. It just hurts, how much he tried to pull himself down but he just couldn't. Ryuuichi felt so near, yet he was  _so far_.

"Please, Yuuichi."

".. Alright."

Kei smiled, squeezing his younger son. "We'll be back with them. Don't worry." He let go, releasing Yuuichi as Sakura pulled him into a tight hug. "Come back safely." Kissing her on the forehead, he nodded. "We will."

"Kei-san." He turned around to see Amemori by the gate, squeezing pass the group of armed men to meet him. "Please let me follow."

"You-"

"I can fight and protect myself. I'll be fine. Please, let me follow you all." Amemori bowed, 90 degrees as he desperately begged. He, in fact, really knew how to protect himself. Amemori never told anyone, but he pretty good at street fights. He probably wouldn't win against Hibari, he knew that, but it was enough.

"You're a civilian, Amemori-kun."

".." He lifted his head slightly and sighed. "Not really. I'm one way or another involved with mafia as well. My father used to be an information broker. I ran a few errands for him before he quit."

Kei stared at him. He took out his gun from the holster around his waist and handed the teen. "You do know how to use one, right?"

Amemori blinked in surprise and slowly nodded. "Alright. Shoot this." His eyes narrowed as Kei threw something up into the air, high up. He clicked the safety off and aimed. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the trigger. There was a silencer attached, so there wasn't much sound made.

The thing Kei threw up fell down and landed on the ground. It was a rubber ball, apparently. Amemori gave the man a rather baffled look as Kei picked the ball up and inspect it. "Not bad. You managed to hit it at least." Kei showed him the ball. The side was chipped off, a shape of a bullet.

"But not good enough." Amemori opened to protest when he raised his hand to stop him. "I might be biased, but it's dangerous. Not only for you, but for all of us as well. If we let you follow, who will be responsible if anything happens to you? Have you thought of your family?"

He bit his lips. He had actually thought of it, but Ryuuichi's safety was all in his mind to the point that he couldn't really think properly. "I.. Have. But don't worry. I'll hold myself responsible. I will not burden any of you." Kei sighed. "That's not the point-"

"Please, Kei-san." Amemori bowed again. Kei huffed and ruffled his hair. He really didn't want any of these kids to join, but he knew that it was impossible. He knew how strong the Vongola Tenth and his guardians are, he knew Amemori is strong as well, to an extend. Still, they are all still  _teenagers_.

"Kei-san." He looked at Tsuna. "Please let Amemori-kun follow as well. We'll take care of him." Amemori shot up and gave the brunette a disbelief look. "Tsuna, I can take care of myself."

"You watch our back, we watch yours." Yamamoto interjected, the cheery antic wasn't there, but he was smiling. "That's what Tsuna's trying to say." The said brunette gave Yamamoto a grateful look before turning back to Kei.

Kei just, gave up honestly. He has seen a lot of stubborn people before, and god, these kids sure are stubborn. Probably even more so than the older twin. Shaking his head, he huffed. "Fine, but be careful. This is not a child play. You'll be with Sawada-kun, Amemori-kun."

Romario laughed at how exasperated he was and turned to the first van. "Well, let's go." (Amemori thanked both Tsuna and Yamamoto as the teenagers took the last van.)

Kei paused on his steps. He turned back to Sakura and Yuuichi and pulled them into a tight embrace. "I'll be going." Squeezing them, he let go and walked up to the first van.

Sakura waved at them, a hand on a frowning Yuuichi's shoulder. She then pulled him into the house, locking the door up. ".. I feel so useless, mom." She shook her head and patted Yuuichi on the back. "You aren't, my dear." Yuuichi looked as though he wanted to protest, but the words just wouldn't come out.

"Well, there's no saying that we have nothing to do." He blinked in confusion at her as she winked. "We'll be doing some hacking today." Sakura's eyes were practically sparkling in terrible glee. "The Stolto will suffer from humiliation for touching what is ours."

(Yuuichi shuddered.)

\---------------------------------------------------

It wasn't a pleasant experience, Ryuuichi had to say, to wake up chained to a chair. His hands were behind him, cuffed, his legs chained to the leg of the chair. And it was cold and dark with only the dirty, miserable light bulb lighting up the whole room with it's dim, orange light. He hated it.

(It would have been nice if he was woken up in a bright room for once, but  ** _no_**. He just had to wake up to the dark with the damn pathetic, sorry excuse of a light. He had to resist the urge to scream out loud in frustration, and deja vu was seriously hitting him in the face, figuratively.)

He wasn't really afraid of the dark after so waking up in darkness for so many times, but he deemed that he had been in these situations too much to be considered as healthy, especially after getting his memories back. His thoughts just had to jumble up and give him a hard time to properly concentrate on the situation, huh. He really wanted to punch his own brain sometimes.

He looked around the room, trying to find a familiar mop of blonde hair to no avail. He was the only one in this creepy dark room, with all the walls vandalized, now that he realized. Where  _exactly_ was he? Groaning, he tilted his head back and stared at the bulb, as if daring it to flicker and dies out on him, or explode, as the matter of fact.

His arms was aching, so he decided to try and get _out_ of these damn things.

He fiddled with his hands and blinked when he felt that his ring was still with him. His bracelet was at home, if he remembered correctly. It seemed like his captors thought that he wasn't much of a threat seeing that their real target was Dino, to the point of not taking his belongings away. Except his phone. (Oh they'll pay for taking his phone away. He does not like anyone taking his possessions. And if he had knew what would happen, he would've brought his gun along. Damn.)

Idiots. All of them are idiots.

He huffed and shifted his hands around the chain, trying to find if there was any lock to it. He winced a little when he felt his skin slightly torn. "Stupid chain.." He muttered under his breath, hands still moving as much as he while trying not to tear his skin anymore than it already was, struggling. His eyes sparkled in victory when he touched a metal pad.

"A normal pad lock." He rolled his eyes. "What did I expect?" He held the lock with his right hand, and summoned his flames to melt it, when the door slammed open, the light from outside blinded him for a moment.

(Ryuuichi mentally groaned, annoyed. 'What now..')

\--------------------------------------- **Bonus 1** \------------------------------------------

Romario sighed as he sat on the driver seat, buckling up as a half of the Cavallone member climbed into the huge black van filled with weapons and such, the other half taking the second one. He seriously pity the Stolto, for waking the sleeping devil up. He wouldn't have felt anything if it was just the sleeping devil. Oh no, he wouldn't even sympathize them if it was just that.

But now, he really do. Not only that the sleeping devil is up and about and hunting for them,  _satan_  itself is going after their sorry arses along with satan's  _spawn_  and satan's spawn's  _spawn_. And Namimori's own Yawata no Kami is going after them as well. What are the chances to their bad luck?

Really, Romario, honest to god, pitied them from the bottom of his heart. (Though, he would be lying if he didn't want to see them  _fall_.)

\--------------------------------------- **Bonus 2** \------------------------------------------

"Kei, we lost the signal." Kei furrowed his eyebrows. Tsuna, too, frowned when a familiar chill ran down his spine. Turning around to the hallway, he saw Mukuro walking in. He gaped as Gokudera and Yamamoto tensed up, the former taking out his dynamites but didn't lit them.

"M-Mukuro?!"

"The little dragon has been captured, so it seems." Gokudera snarled at how amused Mukuro was. "What do you want?" Mukuro smirked, not minding the reaction. "I can lend a hand." Tsuna blinked out of his shock and listened intently. "I can feel Ryuuichi-kun through our little temporary contract. I know where he is."

The brunette wanted to ask of the contract, but the fact that Mukuro knew where Dino and Ryuuichi were shoved that out of his mind. "Where?"

If possible, Mukuro's smirk widen even more. "The abandoned military base in the next town."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole chapter is so sloppy I'm so sorry.
> 
> I don't know why, but I just had the impression that Kei those kind of dude that gets deadly when provoked. Like Fon. While Sakura is more outwards with her annoyance and rage, Kei's like, practically the opposite.
> 
> Fun Fact= Yes, Amemori got into street fights before. In Kyoto. Yes, his father used to be an information broker for the yakuza, and Amemori would sometime help out when he was younger. Now, his father works as a business man, somehow.
> 
> Out of all of them, Yuuichi is actually the weakest in terms of fighting experience. Sure, he's an athlete, he mastered both Aikido and Judo, but he's still weak when it comes to free-form fights. And guns. Yeah. He's going to traiinnnnn!
> 
> So yeah! Ryuuichi had his memories back! Yay! Not much of drama there. Like, bam. It happens and it disappears without a trace. How, mundane. *slap self*
> 
> Fun Fact= Stolto literally means foolish in Italian. I was like, no idea what name should I give them, so came foolish. Then google translate came along. It actually sounds like a nice name, if the meaning isn't known anyway.
> 
> I absolutely sucks at writing multiple characters at one go. *sobs*
> 
> I think I'll focus more on Ryuuichi and Dino's part in the next chapter. Or not. *sighs* 
> 
> The bonuses are a few short excerpts that I've no idea where to put.
> 
> Bonus 1= Yawata no Kami, or known as Hachiman, is the syncretic divinity of Archery and War. He's often called as the god of war, although he's more correctly defined as the tutelary god of warriors. Also the divine protector of Japan, the Japanese people and the Imperial House, the Minamoto clan and most samurai worshiped him. His symbolic animal and messenger is the dove. (Taken from wikipedia)
> 
> So like, you guys get the reference there right? Who represents Yawata no Kami. Hibari, duh. Actually, I wanted to go with Bishamonten, since he punishes criminals, like Hibari. But then, Hibari protects Namimori and the residents of Namimori (most of the time); like Yawata no Kami, and Hibird. So yeah.
> 
> For the abandoned military base, there's actually a quite a few in Japan. The one that caught my eye while I was researching was the abandoned US Air Force base in Tachikawa; from the early days of Japanese/Americans war and peace. It looks really, really creepy, and big. Which was quite suitable, so the place they're captured to is a military place, not exactly the US Air Force base. Just similar.
> 
> It is a military base, and mafia, why the hell not?
> 
> *cough* Satan is Reborn, Satan's spawn is Tsuna (And Dino) and Satan's spawn's spawn is Tsuna's guardians. Enough said.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	72. Off With Thy Head

" _Looks like the kid's awake, bro._ " Ryuuichi decided that the first person who spoke, a short, bald man in a tight, dirty white shirt, would be Idiot One. " _Obviously. The kitten's glaring at us._ " The second person, Idiot Two, snorted. Unlike Idiot One, he's tall and has grey hair shaped into a failed Mohawk. Ryuuichi tried really hard not to snort and roll his eyes at them as they walked closer.

"We brought you food, kid." Idiot One said in Japanese instead of Italian, heavily accented and broken. Ryuuichi said nothing of it and leaned away in distaste when the tray was brought nearer to him. It was disgusting. He wanted not a single piece of that... Food. "Oi." Idiot Two spoke, scowling at him. He repeated what Idiot One said, only that his tone was harder. To his credit, his Japanese wasn't as bad as Idiot One.

"I don't want them." Ryuuichi gritted out.

"We are telling you to  _eat them_ , shitty brat." He sneered at them. "Why don't  _you_  eat them instead?" Apparently, they were both petty old dudes. They were literally offended by his snide with how Idiot One turned red in anger while Idiot Two growled, both glaring at him.

Seriously, petty old dudes.

"You brat, boss told us to feed you, and we  _will_  feed you no matter what." Idiot Two went around and grabbed a handful of his untied hair, pulling his head back. Ryuuichi winced at that, his head tilting back from the force. He growled and bared his teeth at them. Just as Idiot One came forward to, who knows, force feed him that disgusting thing, he stopped and stared at his face.

He and Idiot Two actually didn't have a good look at Ryuuichi's face since the light was so dim. " _She actually looks pretty good, huh_." Ryuuichi mentally did a double take at that. 'Hell. Did they thought that I'm a girl?'

" _You're right... Should we have some fun with her first?_ " Something snapped in him. He didn't know if it was his patient, or his arsehole-tolerance meter, but it snapped, broken, bursting out like a volcano. Snarling at them, as though daring them to even  _touch_  him, they'll pay very badly.

Apparently, Idiot Two couldn't read between the lines. He pulled Ryuuichi's hair again, tighten his grasp. "Who do you think you're growling at, bitch?" Idiot One placed the tray down at one side and grabbed his face, clutching at his cheeks tightly with one hand. Ryuuichi almost shudder at that disgusting touch and tried to pull away, but the pain from how tight his hair was pulled back made him wince.

"Feisty. I like." Ryuuichi took in a deep breath and tried to control himself once again (so that he wouldn't personally castrate them when he got out of the chains) when he felt a hand touch his shoulder, moving down. He growled again, glaring at the both of them. "You're at our mercy, bitch, shut up and take it like a good girl."

He laughed as the hand stopped, freezing in place. He laughed out loudly, as though what Idiot Two said something hilarious, which he actually did. In Ryuuichi's view anyway. "How hilarious." He chuckled lowly, almost as though he was purring. "Two idiots that doesn't know what they've got themselves in." He laughed again. "And their eyesight are absolutely horrendous!"

Idiot One didn't took it very well, once again, and actually slapped him. "You bitch-!"

"Bitch?" Ryuuichi snorted, looking side ways at Idiot One. "Who's the bitch here, sluts?" He sneered, didn't realized that his eyes were glinting.

"That's it! I'm going to teach you a lesson!" Ryuuichi wasn't impressed at the baldy, he smirked. "Bring it on then." He purred, challenging them.

\-------------------------------------------------------

Dino's head shot up, eyes wide and frantic as he tried to find Ryuuichi. He was in a room, (In contrary to the one Ryuuichi was in,) the bright light was blinding, honestly. He had a really bad feeling, and the first thing that came into his mind was Ryuuichi. He gritted his teeth, knowing that he wasn't in the same room as the teen. If only he wasn't chained up, he would've run to where Ryuuichi is already.

He was in similar position as how Ryuuichi was, chained up to a chair. However, his torso was chained as well. Dino wanted to laugh at how paranoid they were, and wanted to curse at them for the extra chain.

" _Good morning, Don Cavallone_." The door opened and closed behind him, but he didn't need to see to even know who it was. " _Don Stolto._ " He said in a nonchalant voice, acting as though he wasn't fazed by this whole thing, when he actually was.

The boss of Stolto, Franco, sauntered into his view, looking very really smug for a coward. Dino had to say, even Skull was better than him. (And really, Dino was pretty sure Franco  _isn't_  a French.) The man stood in front of him with a smirk, the gun in the holster around his waist glinted. " _My deepest apologies for the uncomfortable trip and all. As you can see, we're in a bit of a rush._ "

" _Is that so_."

Franco nodded, ignoring how dry the comment was. " _And, ah. It appears that your companion is awake as well_." He chuckled. " _Well and alive, I would say._ "

Dino glared. " _What do you want?_ "

" _Me_ _? I want nothing, except your humiliation._ " He frowned as Franco continued. " _You embarrassed me, I must say, when he didn't show up for the meeting. Not to mention, you actually_ screamed  _at_ _me. So, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, Don Cavallone_." Franco smirked in glee that he had one of the top mafiosi, one of the powerful Dons, in his hands. It was a wonderful experience, overpowering the blonde. (In reality, he just made a death contract with the Death God. Literally and figuratively.)

Dino almost wanted to sigh in disappointment at him. Poor,  _poor_  Franco. A young boss that took over his father just merely four years ago. Granted, older than Dino, but still so  _young_  in terms of leadership and decisions. (Reborn did not tutor him for  _nothing_ , after all. Dino would listen to the hitman over listening to a veteran mafioso any day.)

Such a stupid reason.

Dino felt insulted, however. He is, by all means, the Don of  _Cavallone Famiglia_ , so much in power than this, small, insignificant Stolto Famiglia (Reborn's word). His Famiglia is but the  _third most powerful Famiglia_ for  _hell's sake_. And he is the one, not that he wanted to brag, who single-handly raised the Cavallone Famiglia to it's glory after all.

He would let Franco see hell right after he's out of these chains.

" _Boss_." The door opened once again as the smirk on Franco's face dropped. " _What is it?_ "

A petite man bumbled over the him and whispered into his ears. Dino noted how the glee on his face morphed into anger and, Dino was the one who was amused this time, humiliation. He suspected that Sakura was doing her magic as they spoke. Bless that wonderful woman.

" _You'll pay, Don Cavallone_." Dino raised his eyebrows mockingly, taunting the hissing man. Franco hissed something under his breath to the petite man and both stomped out in hurry. " _Oh, before I forgot_." Dino groaned internally. " _Your companion under the care of two of my, naughtiest men._ "

Anger flared inside Dino as the door slammed shut behind him.

\------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi spit out blood, tongued the split, bleeding lips. His bangs were covering his eyes, the smirk never left his face ever since they started hitting him. He let them, taking the beating without much sound. The two idiots were panting, exhausted after a round of punches and kicks and slaps. How weak.

He tilted his head back and laughed like a maniac, as though he was crazy. "That was fun, wasn't it?" He said breathlessly and looked back at them through his bangs. His head was tilted to the side as he put up a disappointed look. "Though, is that all you got? Even a child packs more punch than you both combined."

Idiot Two growled at him and socked him at the side of his head, something ringing in his ears at the impact that almost pushed the chair out of balance. He might be bleeding from that, but he couldn't find the urge to care about it at all as Idiot One kicked him in the gut, pushing the chair back a few meters.

He coughed a bit but still laughed because, really, Hibari's hits are much more painful than these. Reborn's, even more. His head was down, looking at his lap as he took in much needed air. The two men looked smug, thinking that they've won. If only they could see Ryuuichi's eyes at the moment. (They were glinting in  _so much_  excitement, which is seriously scary when he was tied up and receiving end.)

"Well, are you both done?" A small chain rattling was heard. "Because, it's  _my turn_." They raised a confused eyebrow, only to widen their eyes when the chain fell to the ground, the chain that was supposed to tie Ryuuichi up. The quickly took out their guns, pointing at Ryuuichi and pulled the trigger. Two loud bangs echoed in the room, but the bullet was deflected by a transparent, orange shield.

"Ahh, one second." Ryuuichi bent down and placed to hands over the chains on both of his legs. A minute later, the chain fell, melted. He nodded in satisfaction as he moved his legs and looked at the horrified faces of Idiot One and Idiot Two. He smiled cheerfully.

"Let's play~"

Idiot One shrieked and ran for the door, Idiot Two following closely, only to slam into an invisible wall. Ryuuichi had put up two shields the moment they stopped hitting him, one around the three of them, as large as the room, and another one around he himself. They saw none of it until they made impact with the shield, orange glow vibrating.

It intrigued Ryuuichi, the moment he pulled it up with ease when in fact, Cloud shields are easier to put up than Sky shields. Though, if he were to put up Cloud shields, it wouldn't be transparent at all. He wondered if something happened during the time he sealed off his memories had resulted this. He could grasp his flames better now, easier, in fact.

He looked down at the Historian ring briefly and snorted when it glowed in blue slightly. Caelum. Of course.

He turned his attention back to the scared men, both pointing their guns at him. He sighed and walked up to them. They pulled the triggers, of course, but the bullets were deflected, not even breaking the shield. It would take Tsuna's X Burner to break his shield, probably. He never tested. (He probably should, let Tsuna try and break his shield.)

"There's a few things I liked to say.." He ignored how cold the floor was against his bare feet as he sauntered closer to the men. "One," He stopped a few meters away from them. "I was never a bitch." He purposely said it in a low tone, making his point into their puny brains. "Two, never touch me."

He grinned. "And three, I was never at your mercy, and never will." His right leg skipped forward slightly and his left leg shot straight out, hitting Idiot One in the face as the man fell down, clutching his bleeding nose. Ryuuichi retracted his legs and ducked low as a right hook from Idiot Two was aimed at him.

He reached out and grabbed the hand. He pulled the hand downwards and lifted his knee up. The man, as expected, lost his balance and fell straight to Ryuuichi's knee. His jaw cracked from the impact as Ryuuichi jumped away, letting the man drop onto the floor, groaning.

"You-!" He raised an eyebrow at how were they still thinking that they could win over him. He wasn't overconfident, actually. In fact, he had overestimated them. 'Ah, their pride.' He nodded to himself.

Idiot One stood back up, nose still bleeding. He immediately aimed a punch at Ryuuichi, who merely moved to the side slightly. He thrust his palm up and jammed the man's throat, causing him to choke.

Ryuuichi frowned. 'I shouldn't be doing this now..' A part of him wanted to take revenge on how much they've hit him, but a part of him was tired, and wanted to get over with it already. He sighed as Idiot One back away, clutching while coughing harshly, Idiot Two stumbling up.

"You know," He drawled, picking up the two guns they dropped and inspected it. "I'm tired." Holding both on one hand, he sprinted forward and hit them at their pressure points. The two Idiots immediately fell onto the ground, unconscious. "Ciao ciao~" He muttered and took down the shield. He had no interest in killing them, actually, despite what they've done.

And their useless attempt on trying to  _rape_  him. (If this attempt is done years and years after, Ryuuichi would mercilessly kill them. Unless, he decided that Vindice could do with another prisoner.)

" _Jae, Kili. Bring the kid to me._ " He blinked when he suddenly heard a voice from Idiot Two. The sound wasn't exactly clear, buzzing. He crouched down and saw a black walkie-talkie on the man's belt. He pluck it out as the voice buzzed out again. " _Jae, Kili. Are you listening? Bring the bloody kid to me now._ "

Ryuuichi chuckled, amused at how things are. " _Hmm~ The bloody kid is here~_ " He sang playfully in Italian, standing back up. The walkie-talkie buzzed, indicating that the one on the other side was listening.

"... _Who are you?_ "

" _Really? I just said who I am._ " He walked to the door, placing his ear against the metal and listened for any footsteps, or anything as the matter of fact. " _What happened to Jae and Kili?_ " He heard nothing. Good. They haven't send anyone yet. He prefer to escape without much fight. That, and he need to find Dino first.

" _Asleep. Literally_." He covered the microphone and opened the door slowly, cringing at the sharp creaks of the rusty hinges. He peeked out and looked at the long and brightly lit hallway. He brought the walkie-talkie to his mouth and whispered.

" _They were too tired after playing, so they slept._ " He chuckled again. " _Now, I'm bored. I suppose, I should go find you, no? See you~_ " He flung the walkie-talkie to the other side of the room, the device crashing into the wall and shattered into pieces. He didn't bother to wait for a reply, because the reply would probably be cursing him or something. That man sounded enraged for some reason. Not because of him, for sure. 'I wonder why..' He mused.

He debated for a second before stepping out the door, running left. He was glad that they decided to take his boots off, or they might hear his steps. He gripped one of the guns from the idiots tightly when he heard voices. The guards, probably. He hastily slid himself into a small gap, waiting for them to pass and hid his presence.

" _The Cavallone Don is really tough. Even after that much beating, he's still conscious. Boss's beating was really brutal._ " His eyes narrowed at that, tensing up as the multiple footsteps got closer. " _I heard that his trained by the Reborn before he was crowned._ "

" _Really? If that's the case, then it wouldn't be much of a surprise._ " Ryuuichi stayed really still as they, three of them, passed by, never noticed him. He strained his ears as the footsteps disappeared, and he let out an inaudible sigh.

'Really, Dino? Why are you letting someone beat you?' Ryuuichi twitched as he silently stepped out of the gap and continued running. 'Reborn's going to skin you alive, if getting kidnapped wasn't going to get him kill you.'

He huffed, suddenly reminding himself that he was actually one of the factor that they were kidnapped. He cursed himself and stopped by a corner, listening for anyone. He hated how he was running like a headless chicken, not knowing where he was going and that he was actually in an enemy's base. He closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings, relaxing himself.

There was a distant rattling of chain, not far from where he was standing, but there was a lot of people near it. He presumed that that was where Dino was. Of course they would be guards all around the big fish. 'Annoying.' He peeked at the corner and indeed he saw guards. Two of them, by the hallway beside another lane leading to who knows where. They were carrying machine guns.

'Why the hell were they carrying machine guns?! Goddammit!'

He huffed and looked straight, the hallway continued on to an end. He saw a fire extinguisher. He his lips, peeking at the two guards again. They were chatting, not looking at where he was. Nodding to himself, he in a breath and dashed across, keeping his footsteps as silent as possible.

Curse his inability to put up an invisible shield Caelum has. Wait, rather than that, curse Caelum for not teaching him.

He stopped breathing for a moment as he stayed stiff on the other side, waiting for any shouts, anything that indicate them noticing his movements. He let out his breath when there was nothing, and hurried over to the fire extinguisher, light on his feet. Just as he was about to pulled it out, he noticed the emergency alarm switch.

'.. I could, put up my shield and attack them if they found out, right..?' Just as he was about to push the switch, the alarm went off, blaring loudly.

He almost jumped out of his skin and quickly crouched behind the fire extinguisher, readying the guns. He pulled his legs in tighter, wincing when pain shot up through him. He glanced down at his feet and realized that they were bleeding. He probably cut himself when he was running.

He jolted at the rumble and explosions and tried to make himself smaller, which was rather an useless attempt as the fire extinguisher was smaller than him. Shouts was heard as a group of armed men ran down the hallway, turning to whoever they were going. Fortunately, none of them noticed him as he stayed real still.

And then there was loud gun shots. Ryuuichi slowly tilted his head out to see all of them had gone. He pushed himself up and tiptoed to the corner again, looking out to see that the two guards was not there anymore.

He bit his lips, tasting the copper taste of blood. It wasn't really a nice taste, but he didn't seemed to care. He positioned the gun in front of him as he ran down the corner, stopping by the other lane.

To his utter surprise, even the guards around where Dino was were gone as well. Then again, not really much a surprise. Ryuuichi did heard them shouting that they were under attack. He walked over, never lowered his guard down and pointed his gun at the closed, metal door.

Taking a deep breath, he kicked it open. (Mentally, he shouted at himself for being stupid. That  _hurt_.)

He saw a familiar mop of blonde, tied in the middle of the room. Dino was bleeding, his shirt was torn and bloodied, stained. His trousers was torn as well, black but there was a large gash, stabbed, probably. He was shaking his head like a maniac at Ryuuichi as the teen frowned. Something was off, Ryuuichi knew it. "Ryuuichi! Run!"

His eyes widen and he moved to the side to dodge the knife, but he was a step to late. The knife impaled itself onto his right shoulder, a man with dirty red hair came popped into his view, smirking.

The knife twisted, a pained scream ripped out from Ryuuichi's throat.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say that I'll focus on Ryuuichi and Dino. Apparently more on Ryuuichi. And the italic parts of the conversation are in Italian, while the normal one is Japanese. Oh side note; Franco said "Good Morning" was because it was indeed morning. Around 1AM.
> 
> So, Ryuuichi was crazy. I don't know why, but that characteristic just popped out when I wrote his parts. Like, really, Sadist? I wouldn't say masochist even after he laughed when the Idiots hit him. He was like, cursing them in his mind blow after blow while laughing at their promised misery.
> 
> And their misery is being scared shitless when Ryuuichi was just, purposely scaring them. Also, Ryuuichi. His head was like throbbing so much in both physical pain and his mind was jammed with all his thoughts that he couldn't really grasp reality. *facepalm* How the hell did he even came up with the plan of both wanting to shoot the fire extinguisher in the guards eyes and slamming their heads with that heavy shit?
> 
> Ryuuichi's hair was untied, as written, and he definitely looked a bit like girl since puberty haven't hit him. Which ended up them thinking that he was a girl. Not to mention that he was wearing baggy clothes. Ah right. I didn't mention this in the previous chapter but they took his phone, his coat and his boots away. Why? No idea *whistling*
> 
> Fun Fact= Franco meant French Man in Italian. Saw it while looking for a suitable name, so why not. Hence, the joke-not-joke. Franco is pure blood Italian.
> 
> Note= The Stolto is a small Famiglia of a thousand or so member. Small, compare to Vongola, Cavallone and Milliefiore. Franco is the fourth boss, taking his father's position after his father's death. His father fed him lies and raised him into a narcissistic person, rather than teaching him how to be rational because, rational is stupid. The Stolto wasn't allied to any of our main character's Famiglia until Franco tried to. Hence, the meeting with the Cavallone and a few other small Famiglia. He didn't really took it well when Dino didn't show up and shouted at him.
> 
> (Dino didn't shout at him, actually. He merely lectured in a low, threatening tone.)
> 
> Fun Fact= The phrase that Franco made a death contract with the Death god, was because. Death God doesn't take it very well when someone tried to kill or harm the Historian, directly or indirectly. As in, do you know how hard it is to get the bloody soul to reincarnate in where it supposed to be reincarnated to? Though, Death God never really did anything. Nope. He did absolutely nothing other than complaining. (Imagine Death complaining to Judgement. It's really comical. Really.)
> 
> Fun Fact= During the time when Ryuuichi let Past!Ryuuichi take control, he was actually chatting with Caelum. The First Historian taught him a few things, told him the history, and blah blah blah blah blah Ryuuichi just, Are you done? Caelum had a great time tormenting his successor. He thought Ryuuichi how to bring his flames out more, how to grasp it properly, even bonking him in the head when Ryuuichi whined about it. He left out the invisible shield though.
> 
> I'm really bad at writing actions. *sigh* Oh well, but the Devil, Satan, Satan's spawn and Satan's spawn's spawn is here! Along with a few other! I really like that whole satan thing *laughs*
> 
> I question my sanity sometimes.
> 
> By the way, if any of you are wondering how Ryuuichi got out the chain and still didn't understood what happen there, he literally melted the chain with Sky flames since he figured using his cloud flames would make it worse. He took his time melting it as the idiots hit him.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	73. Tilting Axis

Ryuuichi's back hit the wall as he backed up, a hand over the bleeding wound. The knife was still impaled on his shoulder, rather deep. It hurt, apparently more painful than the time Vindice stabbed him. Franco did twisted the knife after all. Ryuuichi panted, trying to push back the urge to cry. He didn't want to cry in front of this man, no. He rather die than cry in front of him.

He blacked out for a second, Franco's laugh and Dino's voice drowned out as he concentrated on not fainting.

"How does that feels,  _kitten_." Franco taunted as he held onto the knife, not allowing the teen to pull it out. He was ignoring Dino's yells, taking in how the teen was in pain with great pleasure. The teen was the one who taunted him after all. He wasn't to let him off with just that. No, he will torture Ryuuichi as much as he like. He licked his lips, excited.

He twisted the knife again, grinning at how Ryuuichi screamed, back arching against the wall. What a wonderful expression.

Ryuuichi gritted his teeth. His eyes flashed in anger as he took out the other gun from his back pocket and pointed at the man's chest with his left hand.

"Oh? You do know that there's no bullet in it, no?" Of course he knew. He was the one who took the bullets out from this gun. He wanted to try something with it. He mentally cursed the fact that he had to use his left hand instead. He wasn't really good with using his left hand yet, but this is his only choice.

"Did you take me for an idiot?" He said, watching Franco's expression that morphed into annoyance. He didn't mind that, as he charged up the gun. Franco's eyes widen at how the gun glowed in orange. He jumped back, only to meet a blast of flames against his chest.

But that was that, merely a blast that threw him back a few meter. There was no bullet holes, nor was there any damage. Just an impact. Franco laughed. "Is that all?"

Ryuuichi smirked, with great difficulties however. The gun in his hand shattered into unfixable pieces. "Look again." Franco scowled. Suddenly, orange flames flared off his chest, burning his clothes. It was hot, the heat from the flame. He could feel it burning his skin. He panicked and tried to pat down the flames, to no avail.

"It's not use." Ryuuichi said, grabbing the handle of the knife, pulling it out. He couldn't stop the small howl of pain slipping out from his mouth, throwing the knife far away. "The flame will never be put out." He hovered his left hand over the wound and tried to heal it. It would be quite impossible, but he needed to stop the bleeding. If it was a clean stab, he could probably do it, but that damn psycho just had to twist the goddamn knife.

Franco growled, the fire got more intense. He took out his gun and pointed at Dino's head, grabbing the blonde hair and tilted it up. "Put it out, or he dies." He snarled.

Dino couldn't care less about the gun even though it was pointing at his head. He could tell that Ryuuichi's going to lose it soon. He was bleeding so much from just one wound. His dark brown eyes were hazy as it is. Dino gritted his teeth. 'This is bad..' His eyes widen when Ryuuichi looked into his eyes and frowned. 'Bad idea. Bad, but it's the only way... Damn it!'

"Put it out now!"

Ryuuichi almost snarled at himself. His head was throbbing, and his blood lost wasn't helping much. In fact, it just made everything worst. 'Thank you so much.' He sarcastically spite at himself internally. "I will, if you put down the gun." He wobbly walked forward, almost falling down at some point.

"Ryuuichi, don't put it out!"

"You-!" Just as Franco turned to Dino, a loud gun shot was heard through the room. Dino's eyes were slammed shut as something warm splattered across his face. Franco's eyes were wide, crazy as he stared at his hand, or rather, where his hand should be. He screamed out loud, letting go of Dino's hair as he stumbled back.

Ryuuichi grimaced at both the blood and the detached hand on the floor, limp. He had to will himself not to vomit at that sight, finding it absolutely disgusting. "You pushed your luck, Don Stolto." He peered back to see Reborn with his gun out, the tip was smoking. The hitman had his fedora tilted down, shadowing his eyes from their view.

Ryuuichi laughed weakly at how furious the hitman was. It was quite a sight. Reborn didn't even say his signature 'Chaos Shot' before shooting. Ryuuichi shook his head, or at least, he attempted to with his condition. He felt so light headed, as though he was drunk. Then again, he might not be drunk. He never even drank alcohol before.

He slowly made a beeline to Dino, standing behind the blonde. "Ryuuichi? Hey-!" He ignored Dino's protest when he pressed a hand over the chains that held Dino's hands back, melting it as quickly as he could. It took a while and a lot of effort, but when he was done and was moving to the chain on the blonde's torso, three consultative shots were heard. The chains around Dino's torso and legs shattered, Reborn leaping towards the younger.

"We need to get you to the hospital now." Ryuuichi grunted, not even trying to protest. He felt like dying, but he didn't want to die. Just as he was about to give in to his body's need by fainting, a handless arm circled around his neck and pulled him back. He felt the cold metal of a gun against his head as Tsuna, his guardians and Amemori ran into the room.

All of them had their Vongola Gears out, minus Amemori who only held a handgun. (The teen was shaking, only slightly.) Their eyes widen as they took in both his and Dino's condition, and how Ryuuichi was held at gun point.

They growled.

"Stay back!" Ryuuichi tried to ignore the lack of hand on the arm around his neck, focusing on his friends' faces. Franco wasn't burning anymore, Ryuuichi had long released his focus on the flame, but he could tell that the man was suffering from second degree burn. "Come any closer and he'll die!"

Dino, who stood up from the chair, limply backed away. Yamamoto managed to catch him and held him up when he almost fell. "Don Stolto, you don't have to do this. Stop now. There will be a second chance." Dino coaxed, trying to get Franco to let Ryuuichi go as Reborn pointed his gun at Franco.

"There won't be a second chance! I know it!" The mad man shouted, wringing his arm tighter around Ryuuichi's neck. Ryuuichi choked, slightly pulled upwards as he was shorter than Franco by a head. He almost wanted to sigh at how things was, but couldn't.

"Don Stolto, I'm serious. Stop all this. We will let you live."

The said Don scoffed. "Yeah right! You would probably hand me to Vindice if  _he_  didn't kill me first!" He snarled at the hitman. Ryuuichi somehow managed to tuned out the argument. He noticed Amemori trying to sneak over with the gun while Dino distracted Franco. He unintentionally hissed when Franco's elbow slightly dug into his wound, taking his eyes off Amemori.

His hiss managed to alert Franco of Amemori's movements.

"You son of a-"

_A loud gun shot was heard throughout the room, voice caught in everyone's throat for a second. Amemori jerked as the bullet buried itself into his beating heart. A lucky shot from Franco with how shaky his hand was. Ryuuichi's eyes widen as the light in Amemori's dark blue eyes slowly disappeared, the teen fell lifelessly onto the ground. Thick, red blood flowed onto the ground profusely._

_Ryuuichi **screamed-**_

" _ **NO!**_ "

\-------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi blinked awake. He shot up into sitting position, eyes wide and breathing heavily. His hair was tussled, messy from all the tossing and turning, a thin layer of sweat coating his skin. He rubbed his temple, willing the headache to ebb away. It was a bad dream honestly, but he had expected that he would be having nightmare after what he did. The man sighed.

"What's wrong?" A soft, sleepy voice broke his train of thoughts as he looked to the other beside him, who shifted slightly before sitting up. Hibari looked at him in concern.

Ryuuichi merely frowned and sighed. He pointed at his right shoulder, where a permanent scar is and rubbed it. "Bad memories.." He grasped his shoulder tightly, almost breaking the skin. Hibari noticed, of course. He gently grabbed the hand and pulled it away from the shoulder, rubbing it gently. He intertwined their fingers together, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

He snaked an arm around Ryuuichi's waist and pulled him closer to his chest.

"What did you do?" He asked. Ryuuichi bit his lips slightly. ".. I asked Caelum to show my younger self that particular part of memory."

"Are you trying to change the future?" Hibari placed his chin on Ryuuichi's shoulder, nuzzling into his neck slightly. "No. I'm merely opening another parallel world. Or.." Ryuuichi leaned back, suddenly feeling weak. "Trying to. If Amemori was meant to die on that day, then I couldn't do anything about it.."

Hibari absentmindedly drew small circles at the back of Ryuuichi's palm. "Ryuuichi.."

"I know, I know. The past stays in the past, but I can't help it.." He planted a small peck on the collarbone, as though able to ease the tension on the man. Surprisingly, it did. Some. "I never got to tell him.."

Hibari hummed. Regret and grief towards Amemori never left fully left Ryuuichi even after ten years, lingering deep down in him. Hibari wondered when will it leave Ryuuichi, not liking how Ryuuichi was always dwelling about it whenever memories decided to hit him.

He nipped the skin. "You did. You know that you did." He shifted the both of them until he was above Ryuuichi, pinning the man down. (Concern aside, Hibari was jealous. He didn't like that Ryuuichi kept thinking about Amemori, or anyone other than him as the matter of fact.) "Ryuuichi, let go of it already."

Ryuuichi was surprised when his back landed on the soft mattress, but he kept frowning. "Kyouya.." Hibari didn't back down at how disapproving he sounded. Ryuuichi never liked to talk about letting go of things and all. In fact, he never liked talking about his problem.

"If you don't, I'll personally make you." He leaned down and kissed Ryuuichi on the lips, swallowing the protests and let his hands stray.

_Let go, and let me catch you._

\--------------------------------------------------------

The bright light blinded them as a loud bang silent all of them. Their shield their eyes as they anxiously waited for the light to dim down. When it did, they saw Amemori on the ground, stunned frozen.Their eyes narrowed down their gaze at Ryuuichi, who was still held back by Franco, except, his eyes were wide, and tears were flowing down his cheeks.

Ryuuichi didn't know what happened, but what he saw shook him to his core. What he saw, Amemori dying, he didn't want that. He couldn't stand it. While he knew death is inevitable, he hated it. He hated it so much. He hated how human's life are so short, hated how time passes so fast. He had always hated it, and he will never stop hating it.

His tears never stopped flowing.

"You bastard- What did you do?!" The loud shouts from the man never registered into Ryuuichi's mind, as Kei ran in to the room.

"Ryuuichi!"

Kei was about to run to where his son was, when Franco tensed up and pointed the gun back onto Ryuuichi's head. "Back off!" He complied, not liking it, rooting his legs on his spot.

Reborn gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger, aiming at Franco's hand. He had expected that the hand to be blown into pieces, like how his other hand did. But the bullet was deflected, a transparent shield vibrated. "Ryuuichi, take it down." Soon, Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera said as well, Mukuro and Ryohei attempting to break it from where they were. The shield took up three quarter of the room, blocking everyone from the perimeter. It was useless, the shield stood strong even with the amount of impact.

Ryuuichi shook his head frantically. "Nononono-" He didn't want to take it down. If he take it down, there might be a chance anyone getting shoot. "Shiroki Ryuuichi!"

A low voice boomed across the room, the said teen snapping his head up to a furious Hibari. He was taken aback by the fact that Hibari had shouted, that his tears stopped, all his attention on the prefect. "Enough with the nonsense and take it down!" He blinked away the tears, noticing a flash of panic in Hibari's bluish grey eyes.

He bit his lips, drawing blood from his no longer bleeding lips. "I.." He jerked when Franco hit his head with the gun barrel. "Stop with the drama! If I'm going down, I'm bringing him along!"

Ryuuichi drew a shaky breath. "Judgement;" The Historian ring glowed, an image of a scale appeared in front of Ryuuichi, glowing as though it was a hologram. "Death Penalty."

The image flickered and morphed into what it seemed to be a thousand long spears. "W-wha-?" The spears floated around and shot down onto Franco's back, impaling into his flesh from his legs up to his shoulder. With his weaken grasp, Ryuuichi easily walked out of it, turning to the man.

Franco choked when a spear stabbed through the back of his neck, piercing through . "Endless Abyss." Ryuuichi whispered, and the last spear stabbed onto the back of the skull. Franco stiffen, and fell onto the ground. A glowing ball floated in front of him, tainted in black.

Ryuuichi looked at it for a moment. He grabbed it, and crushed it. The ball shattered in his hand as he released his hold, dull sparkles and ashes slipping down the gap through his fingers.

He slowly turned to the others as the world tilted upside down, he blacked out, the shield itself cracked and shattered as well.

Hibari managed to catch the teen before he hit the ground, gritting his teeth. "Oi!" He softly patted Ryuuichi's cheek, noticing how the younger teen's lips were slightly blue, pale. His pulse was weak as well. Clicking his tongue, he immediately carried Ryuuichi up into bridal style, and hurried out, the rest following.

"Stop daydreaming there and hurry up!" Amemori came back to earth and scrambled up, running after them.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Hibari wanted to bite Ryuuichi to death, and then bring him back to life to kill him off again. He was damn exhausted, mentally wise. Just how many times does the small animal wants to be admitted into the hospital? This marked as the fourth time- or was it the fifth?- he got admitted, and the second time for landing himself in the ER. In the span of  _a year_ (and into the ER in less than a bloody _month_ ).

(Not that the prefect can say anything. He got admitted in the hospital in a year alone just as much, if not, even more.)

Honestly, Hibari was tempted to personally end the teen with his own hands.

He shifted uncomfortably on the hard, plastic chair, looking away from the crowd. Dino was having a minor surgery as well, more like simply stitching up his wound. The blonde didn't lose that much blood, unlike Ryuuichi.

They almost lose him on the way to the hospital, barely making it with CPR.

_Hibari had his hand over on the pulse, keeping it there while Ryohei and Reborn did their work and trying to heal the unconscious Ryuuichi. It wasn't much of a help, actually. Whenever the tissue grew, repairing in a fast pace, it fell apart just as quick._

_Reborn clicked his tongue. "His core is breaking. Tsuna, Dino. Place your hands on Ryuuichi's and draw out your flames, pull him back." The two did as told, having difficulties, but managed. "Hibari." He looked at the prefect, all serious. "Use your flames as well. While Dino and Tsuna's flames can gravitate him because of the bonds, yours can do as much."_

_The prefect did not need to be told twice, or any other explanation as he too, pulled his flames out, the hand never leaving its spot on the neck. Reborn nodded, and he too, did the same. The hitman tried to heal the core, preventing it from breaking while the three made sure that Ryuuichi doesn't slip away._

_All of the sudden, the pulse stopped beating under Hibari's fingertips. He immediately did placed both his palms on the chest and pumped it, trying to bring him back to life. He cursed under his breath and tilted Ryuuichi's head, and placed his mouth over the teen's, breathing out before pumping the chest again._

_He did it twice when Ryuuichi gasped, eyes cracking open slightly. The others sighed in relief, feeling that Ryuuichi was settling down and the core healing itself up. Still, they held onto the flames just in case._

_Ryuuichi's eyes briefly met Hibari's before he passed out again._

The teen really gave them all a heart attack. What shocked them wasn't how Franco died. No, that man deserved it. It was the broken gaze Ryuuichi held out of the sudden. The ever so strong Ryuuichi breaking down, it honestly scared them.

It has been years since the last time Kei saw Ryuuichi cry, when Ryuuichi was merely nine. Kei and Sakura had gone to work in Italy again, going straight for a few month. Yuuichi cried, of course. It was a given that their youngest son would cry, wailing loudly while hugging them. Ryuuichi, on the other hand, simply stared at them by the door way when tears started falling down. He surprised himself and tried to keep it in, but Kei and Sakura saw it already. (They smiled at the silent sob and pulled both of their sons into their arms.)

And that was that. He and Sakura never saw the teen cry again. Kei could count with only his right hand how many times Ryuuichi cried. It was both a wonder, and concerning.

Kei sighed and merely held onto his wife and son tighter.

The rest turned away from the three, and indulged themselves in soft talks.

"I wonder what happened.." Yamamoto muttered. "I've never seen Ryuuichi that scared before." Tsuna and Gokudera nodded as well. Ryuuichi was always calm and collected, occasionally playful and mischievous. It took them aback when the ever so strong teen broken. It pained them as well, somehow able to feel Ryuuichi's emotion at that time.

Tsuna frowned and peered at Amemori, who sat far away. He had a feeling that it had something to do with him. 'Why does everything that happened has something to do with Amemori..?' He somehow knew that the time Ryuuichi got into an accident and got amnesia was all related to Amemori. Well, the accident was plain accident, but the result of the amnesia? His hyper intuition just screams at Amemori. (And Mukuro.)

"It's the first time Hibari spoke above his usual volume as well." Ryohei commented. The boxer wasn't as close as the three second-years to Ryuuichi. In fact, he couldn't exactly remember if he had talked to Ryuuichi for more than ten sentence before. Ryuuichi came off as someone who's not comfortable with opening up to him. And he was actually correct about it. Yet, Ryuuichi was the one who managed to push all Hibari's button when Ryohei only succeeded with one, exasperating Hibari to the point that he didn't even want to deal with Ryohei anymore.

And it happened because Ryohei was freaking  _stubborn_.

The trio nodded at his words, sweating slightly when they felt Hibari glancing at them slightly. They were practically whispering, and Hibari was like, at the other end of where they were sitting.

Tsuna turned to Reborn. "By the way, what did you meant by Ryuuichi's core?" The hitman was sitting beside the brunette, head tilted down. He cast a brief glance, staying silence for a moment.

"The core is actually the  _core_  of one's flames. It is the one that both produce and absorb flames. It's a similar concept to Dying Will Flames. Both are the life force of one's body, with the core as the port of Dying Will Flames. It's very delicate and strong at the same time, depending on each person's will, and needed to be balanced at all times. Ryuuichi's core was breaking because he over exerted his flames, depleting the flames from his core before it was able to generate more flames for the body.

"Which is why I had both you and Dino gravitate Ryuuichi's core and flames, because of the oath and blood connection you both have. Dino, as a blood relative and yours, because of the connection between Primo and the First Historian. Another thing is that the both of you are Skies, just as how Ryuuichi himself is a Sky."

He sighed when Tsuna gave him a confused look. "Imagine a balloon." He took out a balloon out of nowhere, average in size and not tied. "In normal state, it'll be like this. If the air was released," He let go of it, the balloon flew off his grasp and landed on Tsuna's face. "It'll deflate."

He took out another unused one. "But if it was blown to it's limit," He blew the balloon until it popped. "It break and explode."

When the brunette finally understood, horror dawned him. So if he had absorbed everyone's flames, especially the ones with high purity, he might die? Not that he wanted to do that. "However," He blinked at the hitman. "You, on the other hand, is another case. The Zero Point Breakthrough: Revise, absorbs others flames and convert it into your own so that it suits you and your body. It makes you stronger, and more flames than necessary.

"Your core won't break because of the Vongola blood in you. Then again, there was never cases of core breaking because of absorbing too much flames. It was always because of depletion." Tsuna nodded slowly, with a question in his mind.

'Really, what made Ryuuichi overwork himself..?'

\---------------------------------------------------------

The surgery took almost eight hours, far too long for their liking. When it did ended, all of them formed into groups of four or three to look at how the teen was.

Ryohei, Mukuro and Amemori went in first. The former two didn't take too long after confirming that Ryuuichi was alright, but Amemori stay rooted on by the door. He couldn't move at all. Mukuro took one look at him and sighed. He walked to the teen and grabbed onto his collar, dragging him over.

"W-what-?" He shot Amemori a glare, telling him to be quiet. He pushed him to the side of the bed, tilting his head at the unconscious teen. Amemori sweated a little before slowly looking at Ryuuichi. He swallowed. Ryuuichi looked like how he was when he got hit by the truck, but worst. It pained Amemori, seeing him like this. More so when he was the reason.

If he hadn't move at all, Ryuuichi wouldn't go berserk.

"Shut up." Mukuro snapped softly, but with as much venom, his arms crossed. "Whatever happened is no one's fault but that mad man's. Stop whatever you're thinking before I stab you." 

He scoffed at how surprised Amemori was. "Let's go." The blunette turned around and walked out of the room, followed by Ryohei. Amemori stared. 'Wow. Did I strike a lottery or something?' He never knew Mukuro had this side. Shaking his head, he took one last look at Ryuuichi before walking out.

Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Reborn went in next. Tsuna and Reborn immediately checked the teen's core, the brunette sighing in relief when it was alright and Ryuuichi was okay. "The moment he's all healed, we'll give him  _hell_." Reborn said in a threatening voice while the three teenager nodded.

Kei chuckled at that and shook his head, hearing the hitman's words from where he was standing. He gave all of them a nod when they were done and pushed Yuuichi and Sakura in with him, the door closing behind them.

Reborn looked at Hibari, who never left his spot nor shifted during the whole duration. He pulled his fedora down slightly before walking towards the prefect. "Are you not going to take a look at him, Hibari?"

The prefect tilted his head to the hitman, staring into the dark black orbs before moving his head back to it's normal position, eyes shutting close. He didn't even reacted when Mukuro pointedly stared at him before walking off, Ryohei heading out as well. (The boxer went back to inform his sister and her friends, and for sleep because honestly, despite the undeniable fun on punching bad guys, he was  _exhausted_.)

Reborn merely smirked.

"Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto. Let's head back first. Mama is worried."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's lonnng, hitting 4K. Unexpected unexpected, but I've no idea how to end this chapter.
> 
> The last two part is really, how should I say, unsatisfying. Really, but I wanted the contents?? Oh well. Oh right. None of them knew what Ryuuichi saw.
> 
> Ahh, a bit of gore there. Not really, since I didn't elaborate much. And yep, Franco lost his hand. Like, they exploded. From Chaos Shot. Yeppppp. The mental image is really scarring and disgusting. Franco died as a cactus. Yayy!
> 
> Ehhh, I forgotten to mention this in the previous chapter (or did I?), but Caelum had taught Ryuuichi how to control his flames even after releasing it to hit someone or something or whatever. Somehow.
> 
> The second part is, well, TYL time. It's the same parallel world from chapter 69, or 'Between Borders'. Well, as mentioned, TYL!Ryuuichi wanted Caelum to show Ryuuichi, the present one, what had happened, and yes, he did created a parallel world. Yep. *shrug* Not much anyway. Amemori wasn't shot as the shield was put up just in time when the trigger was pulled.
> 
> Fun Fact= Both TYL!Ryuuichi and TYL!Hibari are half naked, with only sweatpants. *plainly drop implication of sexual activities* ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (Psssst! They really did it!)
> 
> About the Judgement thing, it's actually the Historian's ability. Somehow.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi's first kiss is Hibari, because of the mouth-to-mouth from the CPR. *cackles*
> 
> The core thing, Reborn and Ryohei are unable to heal the wound because if the core starts to break, all the tissues in the body, the organs, and the system itself goes haywire. The cells cannot control itself anymore. Or something like that. I think.
> 
> Uhhh, okay, so, this arc might end in one or two more chapters, I don't know. It's not confirmed yet, since I'm still figuring out how to walk this whole thing. *sweat drop* THERE'S STILL THE NEXT ARC THOUGH! *whisper* It will be the last arc thoughhh.. *sobs*
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	74. Living

Kei slowly closed the door and sighed. He, Sakura and Yuuichi had been in the ward, waiting for Ryuuichi to open his eyes, for how long, they didn't know. Dino had popped by sometime during their stay, when Kei decided to take a breather. It was so suffocating, he didn't liked it. Not that he liked the hospital anyway.

He was about to turn down the hallway when he noticed Hibari. He blinked. 'He, didn't stay like that this whole time, did he..?' He sweated and shook his head. Instead of walking the other way, he made his way to the prefect.

"Can I sit here?" He gestured at the seat beside him.

Hibari jolted a little and nodded, sitting straighter and alert. Kei gave him a small smile and sat down, leaning back against the back rest and sighed again. They both stayed silent, the prefect as though waiting for Kei to speak. It wasn't awkward or anything, but he couldn't help but feel a bit unsettled.

"Hibari-kun.. Right?" Kei looked at him as he nodded. "Thank you." Hibari blinked at how earnest Kei was before shifting his gaze away. "I did nothing."

"Ah but you did snap Ryuu out from outright hyperventilating." Kei chuckled despite everything. "And you did CPR right the moment Ryuu stopped breathing. Thank you."

Heaven forbid, Hibari actually blushed a little at that. On normal circumstances, he wouldn't even care and just went with it, but Kei just had to charm him in such an easy way. Now he knew where did Ryuuichi get the magnetism. '... This family is dangerous..'

He coughed slightly. "It's nothing."

Kei wanted to laugh at how cute the prefect was. He, of course, had heard of the fearsome head of Namimori Middle's Discipline Committee. Their neighbour had mentioned about him when the old lady asked of where his kids were going to study. Poor lady must have been fed with ridiculous rumors about Hibari being a devil who eats weaklings. She was really scared for him and his twins. Kei didn't mind, since it was just plain rumors, and his sons could take care of themselves after all.

It did left him wondering what kind of person Hibari was, before he personally met him.

When the twins first started school, they would talked about how the teachers were either nice or plain creepy, how the discipline committee looks hilarious with their pompadours, and how peaceful it was. Yuuichi did mentioned about Hibari a few times, saying that the prefect actually barged into their class and dragged Ryuuichi into a spar without saying much. Kei was both surprised, and worried, but Ryuuichi then added that Hibari- who was nicknamed as Crazy Raven by Yuuichi at that time- is a nice person with violent tendencies, Kei was interested.

Because Ryuuichi had said it while his eyes were sparkling. Kei never really understood his oldest son, but he knew that there was not much that could excite Ryuuichi til that point. Kei really wanted to meet Hibari. (Alas, his work got into the way.)

And now that he saw what kind of person Hibari is, he couldn't be even more happier for Ryuuichi. (He wasn't as dense as Ryuuichi. He knew that Hibari felt something for Ryuuichi, even when Ryuuichi himself didn't knew. What's more, Ryuuichi himself felt something for Hibari as well! Kei hoped someone would give him the patience as both the teen wasn't aware of it.

Or maybe Hibari  _is_  aware of it.)

"Are you not going to see Ryuuichi?"

"I will, later." Ah, right. They did mentioned that Hibari didn't like crowds. (What was their definition of crowds, Kei didn't know.)

He smiled. "I don't think any of us will mind, but if that's what you want." Silence fell once again when Hibari merely nodded as a reply.

Hibari scrunched his eyebrows a little, wondering if he should take up the offer. He wanted to see Ryuuichi, but he knew better than interrupt them as he was an outsider. (Little did he know, they already took him as a family, one way or another, just as how they took the rest as family.)

"Hibari-kun, what do you think of Ryuu?" The said prefect jerked at the sudden question, not expecting it. Kei was leaning forward, his hands intertwined as he stared at him, the smile never left his face. Hibari wanted to shudder at the intense stare from the pair of teal eyes, but he didn't. He refused to. (It baffled him how Kei was able to throw him off with simple gestures and words, his hands twitching as though they wanted to take out his tonfa.)

".. A weird small animal." He slowly begun. "Occasionally talks in riddles, thinks too much, an idiot, too dense about his own affairs.." His voice faltered slightly. There was too much to say, too much to describe Ryuuichi, but there was only one thing which perfectly describe about him. "One of a kind."

If possible, Kei's smile tugged up even more. He chuckled. "He sure is." He placed a hand on Hibari's shoulder, the prefect had to control himself not to swat it off on reflex.

"That son of mine is really oblivious and dense, and he tends to doubt himself, so please, be patient with him." He squeezed his shoulder slightly before letting go. He stood up and walked away without a word. As he turned down a corner, he chuckled to himself. "Looks like Ryuu found someone great." He shoved his hands into his pocket. 'I'm happy for you, my son.'

There was question marks forming on top of Hibari's head as he stared at Kei's back until the man turned down the corner. It took a while before realization dawn him. "Did he," His eyes widen slightly. "Just gave me permission?" He let out an amused sound, smirking. "Then, I will not hold back."

Why would he, when he already had the father's approval to court the small animal?

\--------------------------------------------------------

Hibari didn't even take a step into the ward Ryuuichi was staying in until Kei decided that Yuuichi and Sakura needed to eat and take a breather. (He couldn't help but find it hilarious how Dino manhandled Yuuichi out of the room, almost getting socked in the eyes while Kei cooing and coaxing Sakura out. If he was a lesser guy, he would have burst into laughter.)

His footsteps were silent, almost as though he was floating as he walked to where Ryuuichi was and took a seat on the plastic chair beside it. He contemplated on how the teen was,  _again_ , sleeping so peacefully despite the oxygen mask and the IV drip. Ryuuichi looked as though he didn't almost died, didn't undergo a major surgery and blood transfusion, and didn't saw anything that broke him during that moment.

Too much. Ryuuichi was too much. Hibari did not need all that. (He just wanted Ryuuichi to  _stay_  out of hospital, or dying, as the matter of fact.)

He grabbed Ryuuichi's hand and held it with both of his, rubbing it. He gently leaned his forehead against his hands, closing his eyes.

"Idiot small animal." He sighed. "What did you do to me?" He gazed at the unconscious teen's face, as though memorizing every part of his appearance. Ryuuichi was the first one who found intriguing for a long period of time, the first that he called small animal, and the first whose presence he didn't mind other than Kusakabe and a few others. He was also the first one that Hibari didn't mind any physical touches with. (Before meeting Ryuuichi, he would just bite anyone who annoy, crowd, or even touch him to death, with occasion exception of Kusakabe. Though, Kusakabe would still be bitten to death.)

Just what kind of witchcraft did Ryuuichi cast on him?

His eyes narrowed. "I'm going to bite you to death once you wake up."

In the mean time, he would just settle with this; he bit the hand he was grasping.

(Sometimes later, Hibari actually fallen asleep while holding onto Ryuuichi's hand. Outside, Kei, who came to take his phone he left by the table, chuckled at how adorable the both of them was. No doubt, Sakura would find them adorable as well. He wondered if there was any pictures of them like this. Maybe he should ask Reborn. Kei shook his head and turned around, heading to the cafeteria.)

\---------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Amemori, who disappeared somewhere after seeing Ryuuichi the night before, popped by, looking like a zombie. Yuuichi, who was no better but still better than the walking zombie, twitched. There was eyebags under Amemori's bloodshot eyes, his hair messy and tussled like he just walked into a hurricane, and his shirt was crumpled.

Yuuichi ruffled his hair and excused himself. He dragged Amemori away before he could even walk into the ward by the back of his collar. He wordlessly led them to the nearest toilet, Amemori didn't even put up any resistance, letting himself get dragged. A zombie, Yuuichi twitched. A vein popped as he pushed Amemori into the toilet and crossed his arms, leaning against the wall.

He tilted his head to the sink. "Wash your face. You looked like you just saw a horse procreating with a chimpanzee." Amemori gave him a look at his metaphor as he rolled his eyes. "I meant it."

Amemori stared at him for a moment before turning to the sink and did as told. Yuuichi watched, eyes never leaving the teen. "You.."

Amemori glanced towards him. "You wouldn't have any idea what happened to Ryuu, would you?" His father and Tsuna had filled him in with what happened. There wasn't much that could scare his brother to the point of hyperventilating. Actually, there wasn't one. So far, Yuuichi had never saw or knew his brother hyperventilating.

Amemori tensed, his hands grasped the side of the sink tightly, to the point that his knuckles turned white. ".. No." He choked out. He knew nothing. It was a mystery to him of what happened, as everything was over and done so fast that he didn't had enough time to process it. Actually, he never knew anything. Ryuuichi was not much of a talker of various things, still isn't. He has a habit of giving vague, simply answers, but never elaborate.

It was  _damn_  frustrating.

Though, his own frustration aside, Amemori realized that Ryuuichi no longer trust him as how  _she_  does. A given. Still, it hurts.

"But I'm the one at fault.."

Yuuichi looked alarmed, tensing up only to relax again a second later. He sighed. "You're blaming yourself? Really?" He shook his head. "I thought you knew better." He scoffed at the frown.

"I may not know much about you, nor do I like you that much, but I know that you are not to blame. Whatever happened, it happened for a reason. There is no such thing as whose fault or whatsoever. And," He stepped nearer to the teen and jabbed him on the arm a few times. "You should know that Ryuuichi never likes anyone blaming anyone, or self blames if the things involved him. He may be a hypocrite at that point, but he hates seeing all these blames been thrown around.

"Amemori Hibiki, wake up."

Amemori blinked in surprise. First was Mukuro, now Yuuichi? Man, he seriously need to snap out of it. He let out a weak chuckle and nodded. "Yeah.. Thanks."

Yuuichi raised an eyebrow at that before shrugging. "Here, towel." He passed a small hand towel to Amemori, who still looked surprise. Really, is there anything that doesn't surprise Amemori at all?

"Thank you." He grunted as Amemori gingerly took it. He huffed and walked out, the teen following him shortly.

Amemori tilted his head slightly as he wiped his face, staring at Yuuichi's back. He wondered how did Yuuichi took everything. He seemed relaxed and calm for some reason. Ah, but Amemori saw that the rim of his eyes were slightly red. 'Did he cried?' Yuuichi suddenly turned to him, frowning.

"What is it?"

Amemori scanned the other's face silently. "You're really strong, Yuuichi." He smiled softly. Yuuichi squinted his eyes at him, feeling awkward. He nodded stiffly and turned to the front, continued walking to the ward. "You're weird."

Amemori chuckled. "I guess I am."

Yuuichi scoffed, smiling a little. (He gave Amemori his credit for his awareness. And blunt, surprisingly.)

\---------------------------------------------------------

It took Ryuuichi a week to regain conscious, apparently. During the whole week, all of them had visited daily, staying for half of the day before Reborn forced Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and occasionally, Ryohei to train by running laps around the town, climbing the damn mountain again, or simply, spar against Mukuro or Hibari. (The two fighting maniac gladly complied, the prefect wanting to release stress and Mukuro simply found it amusing.) Yuuichi, his parents and Dino had stayed most of the time, sometimes Dino forced them to go home for the day or the other way around as the blonde was injured as well.

Amemori just, stayed by the side watching everything. (He rather not get involved in Reborn's spartan activities.)

But when Ryuuichi woke up at the crack of dawn, no one was around as they went down for breakfast or just haven't arrive. He stared at the ceiling, his body felt numb. He tilted his head to see where he was, mind still half asleep. 'Hospital..?' He tried to lift his right hand up when he winced in pain. 'Right. I got stabbed on the shoulder. Dammit.'

He twitched his stiff fingers and felt that he had an IV drip on. His eyes widen at the sudden rush of memories. He jolted, remembering Amemori. A bad move as the pain course through his body again. (Despite the anesthetic, everything still hurt as hell.) He stayed still to let the pain subside, feeling oddly stiff. Too stiff.

And then he finally remembered that Amemori was alright. He let out a sigh of relief. 'If something happened to that idiot, I'm going to find a way to triple kill him.'

He blinked, a blurry image of Hibari looking down at him registered in his mind. "What-?" He grimaced at his hoarse, scratchy voice. He sounded like a frog that had sore throat. He just hoped that he doesn't look like one as well. No offense to frogs though.

The door suddenly slammed open. He twitched at the loud noise and frowned at the culprit, only to raise an eyebrow upon seeing a crazy looking Amemori. Or, at least he tried to raise an eyebrow. He didn't really have the energy nor enough feelings of his nerves and muscles.

"Did you just got chased by a headless horseman?" He slowly said, words slurring slightly and still, he sounded like a frog. He briefly wondered if he had overused his vocal cords as Amemori rushed to his side. The teen, out of nowhere, touched his face, his eyes and then pinched himself, clearly in disbelief.

"Am I dreaming?"

Ryuuichi rolled his eyes slightly. "Yep. You're in Utopia."

Amemori laughed, sounding so relief. He knelt down beside the bed, slumping his head onto the bed. "Thank goodness." He was so worried that Ryuuichi wouldn't wake up as a week passed, so worried. The doctor did said that there might be a chance that Ryuuichi would fall into coma after losing that much blood. He didn't want Ryuuichi to fall into coma.

"How are you feeling?"

Ryuuichi scrunched his nose. "Peachy? No.. I felt like I just voluntarily let a shark bite me." He ignored the choked laugh. "Or a Hippo."

Amemori sucked in a breath. "Hippo? Really?" He shook his head before suddenly jerking up to look directly into Ryuuichi's eyes. "Wait you regained your memories?"

Ryuuichi snorted. "Took you long enough." He coughed, Amemori reaching over to the jug on the table to pour a glass of water to him. The bed was then, slowly lifted up until Ryuuichi was on sitting position. Deja vu much?

He thanked him and took a sip slowly. "What gave it away though?"

Amemori's lips tugged up slightly as he took a sit on the plastic chair. "Just a feeling." Ryuuichi hummed, finishing the drink at one go. "I felt like I'm going to die today."

"Probably. Reborn and Tsuna are thinking about giving you hell, and Hibari was probably thinking the same as well." He cringed at that, handing the glass back. "Umm, sorry?"

Amemori leaned back. "Tell that to them, dumbass."

Ryuuichi laughed at that. They both stared at each other, entertained by their own thoughts. Amemori had questions, while Ryuuichi debated on how to say it. It took them a while, but when they opened their mouth to speak, the poor door was slammed open again.

('When did Hibiki closed it..?')

"Ryuu-nii!" He blinked at that, haven't heard it for a while as Yuuichi ran to him and promptly jumped onto him. "Offft!" He yelped at the pain as Yuuichi hurriedly got off of his brother and stayed on Ryuuichi's lap instead, kneeling on the bed. "Sorry!" Ryuuichi gritted his teeth, shaking his head. He gave the younger twin a sheepish smile.

"Yuu-kun! You shouldn't be running-" Sakura gasped and rushed to her sons as well. She immediately pulled Ryuuichi into a hug, immediately forgetting about reprimanding her son. "Oh Ryuu-kun."

"M-mother- Hurts!"

Kei, who was steps behind his wife, quickly pulled her off. "I'm so sorry, Ryuu-kun! It's just that-"

Ryuuichi merely laughed it off while trying to push the pain back. "It's okay." They stared at him. "You got your memories back?" They said in unison, Ryuuichi suddenly felt a bit scared for various of reasons.

"I seriously don't get how are you guys able to notice it right off the bat, but yeah." Kei knocked him on the head. "Idiot." He ruffled his hair, earning a loud grumble and protest. Dino walked in with the biggest grin ever. Ryuuichi smirked.

"Did you fell for someone, or did you really fell?" A gasp.

"I'm actually happy that you're awake, Ryuuichi! How could you!" Ryuuichi guffawed.

\---------------------------------------------------------

"What did you actually saw?" Ryuuichi froze bit onto the cut apple at the question from Reborn. The others, as in Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Amemori, his family and Dino, (and probably Hibari who's next door,) perked up at that. He scrunched his eyebrows and slowly chewed. He swallowed the fruit and pursed his lips.

"I saw Hibiki getting shot and died." The said teen tensed up, eyes wide. Ryuuichi reached over to another slice on the table, acting rather nonchalant about what he had said. "A memory from my older self, I supposed." He bit into it and sighed. "I guess I kind of lose it when I saw what would happened. Fortunately, it wasn't meant to be.. Or perhaps it is, in another parallel world."

Amemori leaned in, scowling. "What?"

Ryuuichi, in retort, leaned away. "What's what?" Grumbling, he poked the teen on the forehead. "This is the mafia, it's obvious people will die. I'm just not used to it, or whatever but yeah. 'Sides, fate didn't really want you dead."

Amemori rubbed his forehead as a smirk appeared on Ryuuichi's face. "I don't get you." (He felt a bit salty that Ryuuichi doesn't seemed to care. Oh, wait. He actually does. Ryuuichi's hands were shaking slightly.)

Ryuuichi laughed. "I don't either!"

\---------------------------------------------------------

Hibari had a resting bitch face on when he came into the room. Ryuuichi merely raised an eyebrow at him with a smile on. "Something wrong?"

Hibari stared at him for a moment. "Are you really okay?"

"Mentally or physically?" He stared at him a little longer, trying to make his point with a 'You Think?' look. Ryuuichi pouted and sighed. "Not really." He murmured, not bothering to lie because, he didn't know why or what happened during the time he spent with all of them, whoever it was, they are able to see through his lies. He just, wanted to flip something.

Hibari stayed silent as he continued. "It's still scary, honestly. Anyone of you guys dying, that is." Ryuuichi sighed again. "But then again, we're the mafia, and it's inevitable. Ah, but I think I'm okay with other people, other than any of you dying?" He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Strange."

Hibari scoffed. "Good to see that you're aware of it." Ryuuichi made a sound of a dying whale at the back of his throat and tried to sock Hibari on the stomach, which of course, he missed. Instead, he almost fell to the side if Hibari didn't hold him up.

He blinked, feeling the heat from Hibari. His heart suddenly thumped faster than usual. 'What-???' Confused as he shifted back properly, he stared at the prefect. His hands curled into fist, clenching the blanket as he sweated the slightly. 'Ehhhh-?!' He immediately looked away when Hibari noticed his stare.

"What?"

His face heated up slightly. He faked a cough. "Nope! Nothing!" Hibari merely raised an eyebrow at his behavior. (He had an inkling what Ryuuichi was thinking about, however. He smirked internally.)

\---------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi flinched and lowered his arm. The nurse smiled encouragingly, telling that he was doing well. Ryuuichi paid no heed to her and continued, feeling awkward with her constant stares. He was doing physiotherapy to move his arm again. He could move his hand and fingers alright, but his whole arm couldn't move much.

Fortunately, his main nerves wasn't cut of when he was stabbed.

"I'll take over." The nurse twitched and was about to protest, but Hibari narrowed his eyes at her. She shivered in fear and hurried away.

"Do you really need to scare her?" Ryuuichi huffed. He raised his arm again, wincing slightly. It still hurt despite the fact that it had been almost a week since he woke up. Well, of course it would, what was he thinking. Hibari shrugged and stared. "Are you forcing yourself?"

"Nope. I can still do it. Though, I  _am_ tired." He sighed and lowered his arm. He raised an eyebrow at Hibari, leaning against the wall behind him. "Shouldn't you be in school?" Ryuuichi couldn't be discharged because the doctor wasn't so sure about letting him off after just releasing him for less than a week. That, and apparently, he broke his ribs,  _again_. Which caused him to be absent from school.

Ryuuichi cursed the two idiots. He was so bored in the hospital, but at least his brother and parents visit him everyday. Amemori as well.

Speaking of Amemori, he hadn't told him.

Hibari gave him a look as he groaned, following the prefect out of the room, letting Hibari lead him to who knows where. "Never mind, don't answer."

He looked out the window they passed, staring out. He had missed New Year during the week he was unconscious, and a blizzard somehow. Small one, they said, but still a blizzard. He was itching to play in the snow again, but none of them would allow it, especially Dino and his parents. Yuuichi would join him if he did, so his brother never said anything.

Except for the puppy eyes to his parents when he wanted to play in the snow with Ryuuichi. His parents almost gave in to it, but Reborn just had to snap them out of it.

Chuckling at that, he shook his head. He turned to the front again to see Hibari giving him a strange look.

"What?"

The prefect narrowed his eyes slightly before continued his track. Ryuuichi wondered what was going on with him, yet he said nothing about it. He pursed his lips as he took in Hibari's rather broad back. Not as broad as Dino's but still broader than his own. Even though Hibari was taller than him by mere nine centimeter, Ryuuichi felt that Hibari was much taller. Maybe slightly.

(Much later on, he would wanted to chop Hibari's legs off by a few inches.)

'.. Am I going to get heart attack?' He placed his hand over his heart, clenching at his shirt. His heart was beating harder than usual, and he couldn't seem to calm it down. His face felt like it was heating up as well.

He briefly wondered why. 'Could it be that I,  _like_ Hibari?' Blood rushed up north even further. 'Uwaaaaa-----!'

He slapped himself.

Hibari stopped at that sound, and slowly whirled around, giving him an exaggerated 'What-the-hell' look. Ryuuichi sputtered incoherently. The prefect frowned and sighed. He walked closer to Ryuuichi and grabbed his hand. He smirked when the sputtering got more ridiculous.

"Wha- Are you teasing me?"

Ryuuichi pouted when he noticed the amused glint in Hibari's eyes.

Hibari snorted and pulled his hand. "Come on, let's go."

\---------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi's shoes clicked silently against the floor, walking down the long hallway to the study room. The man stifled a yawn, tired with only three hours of sleep. He was busy with the paperworks and not so subtle threats, diligently trying to finish everything just so he could take a day off from work. Sadly, he still needed to do some research.

His phone suddenly rang, blaring a loud screamo song that made him jump. He grumbled and immediately pulled it out. Yura must have been messing around with his phone again. Maybe he should lock it with password.

"Yes?"

" _Ryuu? It's me. Where are you?_ "

He raised an eyebrow. Why did his brother need to call him when they were in the same building, except probably the opposite wings. "Heading to the study. Why?" His eyes widen at what his brother said next. His heels turned and he took of to another direction, hand clutching the phone. His scar throbbed slightly, but he paid no heed to it.

He rushed down the stairs, going as fast as he could and zipped down to the foyer. He panted, eyes wide and hair slightly messy.

A man in suits, hair short and dark blue in color, had his back to Ryuuichi as he was talking to Yuuichi. As though he noticed Ryuuichi's presence, he turned around. Ryuuichi gasped and practically leaped over to the man.

"Hibiki!" Amemori coughed when Ryuuichi barreled onto him, barely able to hold the both of them up. "Wait- What the hell?! I thought that you're dead!"

He laughed and grasp Ryuuichi's hand, pulling it up and placed it over his heart. It was beating, thumping against his chest. Ryuuichi's jaw dropped. "The bullet actually nicked my heart, but I was saved."

"B-but-!"

"The triad took him in and performed a surgery on him." He turned to Hibari, who walked in with Liu beside him. "W-what?" The triad was, and is excellent in the field of medical, both western and eastern ways. They dared say, even more than Vongola's if Shamal didn't decided to join them and teach Ryohei to a excellent doctor as well. (It was shocking that Ryohei wanted to take up medicine and become a doctor, most of them couldn't really believe it.)

"Miracle surgery, or sort." Liu added, tilting his head. Ryuuichi looked back at Amemori, still in disbelief and punched him on the gut.

Amemori yelped in pain and grimaced. He was about to snap at the man when he felt arms circling around him into a really tight hug. "You.. Idiot!"

He smiled and patted Ryuuichi on the head, returning the hug. "I'm sorry for making you worry.." (Hibari narrowed his eyes at that. His hands twitched, but he did nothing and looked away. Liu stifled a laugh while Yuuichi smirked at the man. Hibari was tempted to bite the two of them to death.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit, messy? But well, it's not the last chapter of Trapped Arc. Yayy! I was trying to drag it longer. I think I focused too much on Hibari though.
> 
> I had this thought that Kusakabe and Hibari actually knew each other ever since they're kids. Poor Kusakabe had to endure Hibari's phases and violent tantrum, but he still stuck to Hibari. Sweet, aren't he. Headcanon Kusakabe really good at cooking, houseworks and knitting.
> 
> Fun Fact= Yep. Yuuichi did called Hibari Crazy Raven for the first half of their first year.
> 
> The last part is, TYL era. Amemori didn't die. YAYYY!
> 
> And Giudizio!
> 
> Fact= The Giudizio consist of eight members, including Yuuichi and Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi is the head while Yuuichi's the vice. Members are; Liu Xie (Chinese, Male), Xena (Irish, Female), Yura (Russian, Male), Gilbert (British, Male) and two newest members, Ivy (Italian, Female) and Eliot (French, Male). I might make a chapter of how Ryuuichi managed to gather all of them sometimes later. And another one of all these characters' profiles. Amemori joining Giudizio is still not confirmed.
> 
> Fact= The members of Giudizio lives in this mansion placed on the outskirt of town near a forest, and in between of where the Cavallone and the Vongola's mansion are located. So like, while Cavallone is on Italy; Main land itself and somewhere at the tip of the boots, Giudizio and Vongola are located on Sicily, but rather far away from each other. It would took a long journey to get to where each mansion. Oh Shimon is in Main Land as well. Somewhere at the heel of the boots.
> 
> If compared, the Giudizio mansion is damn smaller than Cavallone's, Vongola's and Shimon's. There're no maids nor butlers except the occasional cleaners they called in. Ryuuichi had never wanted a big organization, so it remained smallll.
> 
> Fun Fact= Giudizio Mansion is actually a gift from Dino, as he owned that piece of land and the mansion itself. (Small as it is, it's still big for Ryuuichi. And there's basements. Like a few floor down. Seriously?)
> 
> There was nothing on the wikia stating that the Vongola was founded in Sicily, but I just go with it since almost everyone says that it is from Sicily.
> 
> I might jump immediately to after Ryuuichi's discharged from hospital in the next chapter, okay? Sorry for the confusion.
> 
> Sooo, this arc is coming to an end in the next chapter. I'm so going to miss ittttt. ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEXT ARC WILL BE SAID IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	75. Walk With Me

The chatters of the students in the class came to a stop at the twins arrival. Tsuna blinked at the sudden silence and looked up from Gokudera and Yamamoto, who sat beside and in front of him. He brighten up upon seeing the twins. Gokudera and Yamamoto as well. They immediately gathered around the two siblings as they took their seat.

"Good morning!" Ryuuichi and Yuuichi perked up at that and greeted back. Ryuuichi eased his back pack off his shoulder the uninjured one and rubbed his eyes. He had slept late last night to finish off the school work that piled up, fortunately able to finish all off before he literally collapse out of sleepiness.

"Are you sure that you're well enough to come to school, Ryuuichi?" Asked the concern Tsuna. Sweet,  _sweet_ Tsuna. Bless his soul.

Ryuuichi nodded, leaning against the table. "Yep. My parents gave the green lights, so why not?" He was dying in boredom at home after he was discharged from the hospital. There wasn't much to do, much less he  _could_  do with his parents watching him like a pair of hawks. And he didn't like playing computer games, so he settled with reading nonsensical things off from the internet and smack it all onto his brother and his parent's faces, much to their annoyance and amusement.

Dino, well, was literally kicked back to Italy to finish his work. By his mother dearest.

Yuuichi snorted. "They relented because he was practically driving them nuts with his random shits." Ryuuichi placed a hand over his heart and gave his brother a betrayed, pained look. He faked a horrified gasp. "How could you reveal my secrets?"

Gokudera choked on his laughter while Yamamoto guffawed. Tsuna looked absolutely lost until Yuuichi decided to enlighten him.

"Ryuu acted like a sugar-induced kid for the whole month. Except, rather than  _being_  a childish and bratty five years old, he recited all the sarcasms, stupid lame jokes, innuendos and creepy facts off the internet like it was  _nothing_."

"Case point, innuendos are limited to you only, my dear brother." Ryuuichi snickered. He had to admit he was a tad bit hyper for the whole month. His parents were both intrigued by this side of him, and exasperated. Really,  _really_  exasperated. Like, they were done with his maddening shits.

He laughed again when Yuuichi groaned, remembering one of his jokes and literally slammed his head onto the table. "I sometimes wonder where did you get all these dirty jokes from."

"Internet is a  _wideeeeeeeee_  place. And him." He pointed at Amemori, who just arrived. Amemori raised an eyebrow at what they were talking about as he made his way to them.

"What's going on?"

"Hibiki. Receive or give?" Amemori stared at the teen for a long time before he gave a deadpanned reply. "Both." Ryuuichi laughed out loud. "Mukuro, huh!" Yuuichi groaned out louder while the other three exchanged a confused look.

Until Gokudera got it and turned into a dragon fruit. "Ryuuichi!" He screamed, heat steaming off his face. Yamamoto and Tsuna still doesn't get it. "Pervert!"

Ryuuichi curled his lips into a Cheshire kind of smirk. "And you're saying that you aren't one?" Gokudera, if possible, turned even redder. Ryuuichi looked at Yamamoto and Tsuna, and snickered. "You guys will understand one day~ Oh but don't tell Mukuro." He placed a finger over his lips and winked at them.

They remained confused as hell.

Amemori knocked the teen on the head. "Why are you trying to taint their innocent mind?" Ryuuichi pouted at him. "Says the one who liked SM play." Amemori stiffly turned to Yuuichi. "Did you give him sugar?"

Yuuichi raised both of his hands and shook his head. "Nope. He took it on his own."

"Oh come on, it's not like no one knows." Amemori chopped him on the head again. "You're supposed to be the only one who knows!" Gokudera fainted.

Ryuuichi laughed hysterically and reached over to the unconscious bomber. "Okay, okay. I'll shut up already." He pulled Gokudera up and slung an arm over his shoulder, careful of his injured one. "I'll bring him to the infirmary, since he doesn't look like waking up anytime soon."

Amemori stared as Ryuuichi dragged Gokudera out. He took off his sling bag and placed it on his table. "I'm following as well."

Yuuichi sighed and slammed his head onto the table again. Tsuna and Yamamoto had a huge question mark on their heads.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi heaved a sigh as he placed Gokudera onto the bed. He pulled the cover over the bomber and sat on the side of the bed. He chuckled at the incoherent mumbles from Gokudera, treading his fingers over the silver lock. Shamal wasn't around, yet again. Ryuuichi briefly wondered if the man was actually doing his job or not.

He stood up and pulled the curtain around Gokudera's bed. "Your stare burns, you know." He said softly, trying not to wake the other up. Amemori ignored the comment and continued to stare.

Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked away, out at the window. "Let's skip the first period?" Amemori blinked at the sudden question. Ryuuichi had never skipped class before, not that he knew. That, and Ryuuichi never liked skipping classes, no matter how boring it is.

He nodded. Ryuuichi smiled and led them out of the infirmary. He had his hands shoved into his pocket as he sneaked to the music room, the abandoned one.

He closed the door behind Amemori and skipped to one of the chairs beside the windows, curtains drawn. He pulled it, letting the sunlight into the room and opened the window. The cold breeze was nice, unlike the stuffy room.

"I thought this room was haunted?"

He laughed as he sat down. "Not really. There was just something wrong with the radio. It would randomly play songs out of nowhere before breaking down again." He pointed at the radio on the cabinet behind the room, old and dusty. "It  _is_  really creepy at times, but well." He shrugged.

Amemori shook his head and took a seat on one of the chairs as well, rather far away from the other. They both stared out the classroom, watching the birds fly. It was silent, as Amemori waited for Ryuuichi to say something. He knew that the teen had something to say.

Ryuuichi always took his mind off things that bothers him by indulging the internet and makes weird jokes. It was a habit of Ryuuichi's, since Ryuuichi's brain was always working. He would become a maniac once a while just to let some steam off from all the bottling up.

Amemori really wanted him to at least talk about it to someone.

"How is Jupiter?" He looked at the other. Ryuuichi was staring into space, no longer gazing out the window but to the ceiling as though it was the most interesting thing on the entire universe. Amemori blinked.

"She's fine. Healthy and energetic." Ryuuichi nodded. He paused for a moment and sighed. ".. Hibiki. Are you sure that you like me?"

Amemori frowned. "Of course I do. I  _love_  you."

Ryuuichi gave him a strained smile at the correction. "I love you as well, Hibiki.. But.." Amemori nodded. He knew what the other wanted to say. He knew it all along.

He could never have Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi furrowed his eyebrows at the look he has. "Dammit, could you please finish listening to me before jumping into conclusion?"

Dark blue eyes met dark brown ones. Amemori's eyes were flashing in red. Ryuuichi let out a small laugh at his look. He never really liked that kind of look. "Do you know that your eyes will always flash in red whenever you're serious?" He shook his head. "I love you, Hibiki. I may had a crush on you when we were younger but I do love you. I love you as a friend and family. I'm sorry."

He stood up and bowed, ninety degrees.

"And I don't deserve you." He murmured. Amemori's eyes widen. He quickly tried to get Ryuuichi to stand straight, scowling at the bow and his words.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked after he managed to pull Ryuuichi up straight.

"You're a good person. You deserve better." He pulled Ryuuichi into a tight hug, mindful of his shoulder and shook his head frantically. "Nonono. I'm not a good person. I tried to monopolize you, I tried to kept you for myself, I'm a selfish person. It is  _I_  who don't deserve you."

A weak punch aimed at his chest, but he didn't let go. He hugged Ryuuichi, relishing in the moments as it would probably be the last he could even hold him like this. Because he would have to let go soon. He didn't want to.

It hurt so much.

Ryuuichi bit his lips. He knew he had broke Amemori's heart. He could feel the pain from him, from how he was shaking, and from the small amount of tears Amemori shed. He had hurt Amemori so much, for so long. They should have never met.

They should have not love each other, even though their love was different.

But they did.

Ryuuichi hugged Amemori tighter, dismissing the twinge of pain from his shoulder as the pain Amemori felt was more agonizing.

\----------------------------------------------------------

When they let go of each other, Amemori had calmed down. He was relief despite being rejected. It felt good, somehow. He interlocked their hands together, watching how it fit together. They no longer fit like missing puzzle pieces. A loop-sided smile tugged on his lips.

"We're both idiots, don't you think?" Ryuuichi chuckled, nodding. He squeezed their hands. "Yep."

They laughed. "So," Amemori drawled after they stopped. "When are you going to confess to Hibari?" Ryuuichi gave him a bewildered look, face flushing immediately as he stuttered. "W-what are you talking about?!"

He looked away, trying to calm his heating face down while Amemori rolled his eyes. "Oh come on. It's so obvious." He scowled at the other. "It is  _not_." He pouted.

During the month he was under house arrest, he slowly realized his feelings for Hibari. (But no thanks to the occasional night visit where the prefect just, popped into his room from the window. What was Hibari, a monkey? A nocturnal monkey.) He tried to deny it, but he just couldn't. Hibari wasn't helping either with how frequent he came by.

Ryuuichi gave into the fact that he like Hibari, utterly exhausted from arguing with his own conscious. He never told anyone, however. Not even his brother. Just how did Amemori read him like an open book?

"We both like the same person after all.." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at the low mutters. "I'm sorry? I didn't catch that." Amemori shrugged. "Nope. Nothing. But seriously. When are you going to tell him?"

Ryuuichi scowled. "Don't know. Probably never." Amemori was alarmed. "What? Why?"

Ryuuichi heaved a sigh. "He probably doesn't feel the same way. And he's better off with someone else.." Amemori groaned. He flicked the teen on the forehead, hard, earning a yelp. He glared at him sternly, in a chiding manner.

"Stop berating yourself, BakaRyuu. You never even asked, so how would you know? Don't decide things for him. Go ask him." He grumbled. "You and your bad habit. Always looking down on yourself. Why would you even do that?"

Ryuuichi pouted. Amemori cupped both of his cheeks and pulled him nearer until their forehead leaned against each other. A flash of surprise was clear in Ryuuichi's eyes. "You idiot sandwich. You're more delicious than you think."

Ryuuichi blinked. And he literally burst out into laughter. He tilted back and laughed his head off, gasping for air. Amemori wasn't much better, as he was snickering so hard that his lungs actually hurt. "Hibiki, you're going to be the death of me someday." Ryuuichi breathed out, grinning.

"It's an honor, then." He laughed again.

The door suddenly slammed open. Ryuuichi jolted as his laughter stopped short, Amemori's eyes widen. "What are you both doing here, skipping class?"

Ryuuichi flinched at that. Hibari stood by the door, looking absolutely furious. He took out his tonfa. "I'll bite you both to death."

Someone please save the poor children.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi walked behind Hibari, trying to make himself unnoticeable but it was a futile attempt. He rubbed his bruised cheek caused by the tonfa the prefect kept somewhere on his being. He was let off with lesser injuries as he was already injured. Amemori wasn't so fortunate, having to land in the infirmary. Ryuuichi then was ordered to follow the prefect to the reception room, where his punishment for skipping class will be given.

He swallowed the small whimper that threaten to slip out of his lips at the thought of Hibari being furious. (It just hit him that he didn't want the prefect to be angry. He was baffled at his own thoughts. He honestly didn't thought of that before.) That, and the silence was too unbearable and suffocating. He was torn between wanting to run away and just stay stiff.

Hibari slid the door open and looked at him, silently telling him to get in. Ryuuichi avoided his gaze and walked in, lips pulled thin. He stood in the middle of the room as the door closed behind him, suddenly not knowing what to do.

(If he hadn't realize his own feelings, he would probably be nonchalant about everything, but his heart just likes to mess with him.)

Hibari walked pass him and to one of the shelves that contained the students record, finding Ryuuichi and Amemori's. He twitched at remember Amemori Hibiki. He wondered what in the seven seas were they both doing in the bloody music room, alone and sitting so close to each other. He suddenly wanted to bite Amemori to death again.

He bit back a snarl and pulled out the files in a forceful manner. Ryuuichi sweated as he stared at the prefect. He quickly averted his stare when Hibari turned back to him.

Hibari raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior. He placed the the files on the table and sauntered to Ryuuichi, who didn't move even a muscle.

"What were you and Amemori Hibiki doing?" He asked, accidentally sounding harsher than he initially wanted to. It was just that Amemori left a bad taste.

Ryuuichi pursed his lips. "Talking." Hibari noticed how he was slightly bashful and was still avoiding his eyes. Why was Ryuuichi bashful now of all times? Hibari didn't understand.

"Can't the both of you talk during recess?"

".. We brought Gokudera to the infirmary because he fainted, and.." Hibari stayed silent, waiting for the teen to continue. ".. I'm sorry." He scowled.

"Since this is the first record, detention for the both of you." Ryuuichi flinched and rubbed the back of his neck. He never had detention before, so it was the first for him. Oh well, there was always first time for everything. He nodded, murmuring a soft 'yes'. Hibari was still scowling when he peered at him slightly.

The prefect grabbed his chin and tilted it up so that he would look at him. "Why won't you look at me?" He asked, looking into the dark brown orbs. Ryuuichi blushed again, noticing how close their face was.

He hated his heart sometimes.

"W-well," He glanced away, not fully meeting Hibari's eyes as he tried to pull away. He squeaked when an arm snaked around his waist, preventing him to slip away. "Y-you are angry at me, obviously." He silently prayed that Hibari couldn't hear how loud his heart was.

"And before you didn't even care and just snap back with little to no remorse." He blinked.

"I did that?"

Hibari gave him a deadpanned look. Trust Ryuuichi to forget about it. "You did."

"Oh."

Ryuuichi flushed again. "Umm.. Could you let me go..?" Hibari narrowed his eyes and pulled him into a hug. "No."

Ryuuichi was sure that he was steaming from how hot he felt. 'Don'tlethimhearitdon'tlethimhearit!' "S-senpai?" Hibari pulled away just enough to face him. He grabbed the back of Ryuuichi's neck and leaned in.

Ryuuichi's eyes wide when Hibari's lips touched his. He turned into stone in Hibari's arms as his brain died momentarily, his heart bursting. He stopped breathing. He finally snapped out of it when the kiss broke. He could no longer stop himself from overheating as he pushed Hibari away.

Hibari looked surprise at that, somehow hurt but Ryuuichi saw none of it as he ran off. Hibari clenched his hands and gritted his teeth.

Ryuuichi felt that his heart was going to fail.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Yuuichi wondered what happened to his brother when Ryuuichi literally ran into the classroom, not giving a damn to the teacher and barreled straight onto him. He let out a yelp as Ryuuichi turned into a koala, his scream muffled on his shoulder. Yuuichi grimaced and rubbed his head, having to hit it on the window when Ryuuichi jumped onto him.

"Shiro-kun!" The teacher's scolding was left unheard as Yuuichi tried to free himself from his brother's vice grip.

It was then did he notice how red Ryuuichi's ears and neck was. His eyes widen. With a heave-ho, he gathered all his strength and carried his brother up, who literally clung onto him like a koala.

Really.

"Sensei! My brother isn't feeling well! I'm going to take him to the infirmary."

Without even waiting for the reply, he was already out the door. Yuuichi easily carried Ryuuichi to the infirmary, ignoring the looks from the teachers he passed by.

He used his leg to slide open the door and blinked. Gokudera was still unconscious, and Amemori was severely injured.

He squinted his eyes at Amemori, who stared at Ryuuichi with wide eyes.

"Alright. You guys are going to tell me what the hell happened."

\----------------------------------------------------------

"So you're saying that Hibari kissed you and you ran away because you're surprised plus- your words- embarrassed, couldn't believe it, felt like you were going to die out of happiness." Amemori looked at Yuuichi in awe as Ryuuichi, who calmed down at some point, turned into a pomegranate again and slammed his face onto the pillow.

"How the hell did you understand that gibberish?"

Yuuichi grunted. "You will, gradually."

Ryuuichi groaned out loud into the pillow. Shamal came suddenly, and frowned. "What the hell are you kids doing here?" Amemori and Yuuichi gave him a disapproving look. "Out." Shamal automatically closed the door. And there was a clicking sound of the door locking.

"Did I just got locked out of my own office?"

Yuuichi shook his head and turned back to the situation on hand.

"Ryuu, you know what you did are going to cause some misunderstanding with Hibari, don't you?" The teen peeked out of the pillow and slowly nodded. He realized it, obviously, but he couldn't help it.

"But I thought I was going to die. Figuratively."

Ryuuichi kneaded the pillow. He sighed. He would have to talk to Hibari about things, with this happening. He didn't even had the intention to, but damn Hibari happened. He groaned and ruffled his already messy hair. He looked at Amemori. "Can I punch you?"

Amemori blinked. "What? No! Why?"

"You jinxed it, obviously."

"I didn't!" Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes at the teen. And then he realized something. He snapped his head to Yuuichi, eyes wide. "Wait, what?"

Yuuichi raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"How did you- Eh- What?!" He scoffed, finally understanding what Ryuuichi meant. Seriously, his brother was some kind of a prune sometimes. "I'm your twin, aren't I? Besides, it's  _so_  obvious that you both are going after each other." He twitched. "It pissed me off every time, seeing how hesitant the both of you are." Ryuuichi backed away slightly, sweating at the aura his brother was emitting. He hoped that he wasn't going to punch him.

"I seriously don't get how you are able to say those jokes and stuffs with a straight face but became a hermit just from a kiss."

He threw his hands arm and flailed it in retaliation. Or was it in frustration? Oh well. "That was my first-" His voice faltered as he turned red again.

And then Amemori just had to correct him. "No? I think your first kiss was taken during the time you were dying? Hibari did CPR on you."

Ryuuichi stared at Amemori for the longest time ever, mind blank. He fell unconscious.

Yuuichi slapped himself on the forehead at that just as Gokudera woke up. "One up, another one down. What is _wrong_ with you guys?"

\----------------------------------------------------------

A loud scream followed by a smack was heard throughout the floor. (The teachers jolted, but carried on with their work, totally immune to any kind of screams from the students  _and_  teachers of Namimori Middle. With Hibari in school ground, there was never a day without screams. And Tsuna as well.)

Ryuuichi winced at the pain, curling up as he rubbed his forehead. He groaned and turned to the other side. "Ow ow ow.." He grimaced and glared at the prefect. "Did you seriously need to do that?"

Hibari remained unfazed as he sat on the side of the bed, arms crossed. "You didn't need to shout."

"Who wouldn't when they saw a damn stalker in front of their face?" Another smack was heard. Ryuuichi yelped and threaten to bite Hibari's hands off if he dared to touch him once again. He gritted his teeth and rubbed his sore head, sitting up. Huffing, he leaned against the bed frame, looking around the infirmary.

'Did I faint?' He tilted his head, wondering how did he fainted. Hibari took a glance at him before looking away. ".. I'm sorry."

Ryuuichi's eyes widen. "Eh?" He was taken aback. He had never heard the prideful prefect apologize before, much less towards him. Technically, Hibari had never apologize even once in this whole year. Ryuuichi furrowed his eyebrows. "Why are you-" And then it clicked, the memory of Hibari kissing him hit him like a bullet train.

He blushed for the nth time and buried his face onto the pillow, hiding from Hibari.

"You brother confronted me." The pillow was gone.

"What?" Hibari gave him a withering look. "He said that I was too impatient. I'm sorry." Ryuuichi slowly shook his head, still stunned at the fact that his brother literally confronted the prefect, and that Hibari apologized.  _Twice_. He was probably going to die real soon.

"I just don't understand why would you be so flustered when I touched you when it wasn't even the first time." Ryuuichi inched away slightly.

"Okay, that sounded a bit wrong but-" He gulped. He almost wanted to peel Hibari's arched eyebrow off his handsome face. He looked away, words got caught up in his throat. He knew that Hibari was waiting for him to continue what he wanted to say, but he just couldn't. It was like his voice was robbed.

That, and his heart felt like bursting again. 'God _dammit_  can you just calm down?!'

"Situations! Okay?! Because of situations!" Hibari moved nearer as he moved further. Or, tried to. Hibari had his hands on both sides, closing off any escape route he has as he stared into Ryuuichi's eyes.

"What kind of situations?" He asked lowly in a rather soft voice. Ryuuichi tried to suppress the shiver that ran down his spine, to no avail. He leaned away, head hitting the wall slightly as he looked elsewhere other than at Hibari. "Y-you know.. Situations.."

"I don't." Another shiver. "Enlighten me." He couldn't stand it anymore. He grabbed both of the prefect's shoulder and push him arm length away, eyes closed tightly as he faced his own lap.

"Damn it stop doing that to me!" Hibari placed his hands on top of Ryuuichi's, pulling it off to grip it. "What did I do?"

Ryuuichi's ears turned red, just as how his neck was red as well. "Tell me, Ryuuichi." He made a sound akin to a dying whale at his name, biting his lips.

"S-stop making me fall for you anymore.." He whimpered out softly. If Hibari didn't have good hearing, he might had not hear it, but it was loud and clear. His eyes widen slightly before they soften. He gripped both of Ryuuichi's wrist in one hand and tilted his head up.

Ryuuichi's eyes remained closed, lips trembling as Hibari brushed it with his thumb. "Open your eyes, Ryuuichi." The said teen shook his head, trying to pull away from Hibari's grip. Hibari prevented him to do so, bumping their foreheads together. "Open them." Ryuuichi flinched slightly at that, but did as told.

Only to shut them when he saw the intense look Hibari was giving him. Hibari sighed softly, knowing that he couldn't get the other to fully look at him, and yet, he couldn't stop the small smile forming. 'Adorable.' Instead, he wrapped his arms around Ryuuichi, feeling how shaky he was.

He whispered into his ears. "I love you, Ryuuichi."

Ryuuichi jolted in surprise. He never really knew that his ears were sensitive. That, or it was Hibari's fault. No thanks to Hibari, however. He placed both of his hands on Hibari's chest, trying to push him away but he stiffen when he felt how fast the prefect's heart beat was.

He let out another whimper, fingers clutching onto Hibari's shirt as he stuttered. "I-I.."

"I love you." He jolted again, shivering at the hot breath from Hibari against his neck. He couldn't control the tears of happiness from slowly flowing down his eyes. He buried his face on Hibari's shoulder, voice muffled.

"I like you too.." Hibari's smile widen at that. However, he will soon change that 'like' to 'love. He definitely will. He pulled Ryuuichi closer and tighter, crushing him against his chest. Ryuuichi remained trembling like a newborn fawn.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi rubbed his eyes, sniffling slightly. He pulled his phone out to see a message from his brother. Apparently, Yuuichi's month of hell was going to start again, basketball. His coach once again, dragged him to practice and he couldn't complain since he  _had_  been skipping for a month. Ryuuichi smiled at that, but suddenly wanted to kick his brother on the shin for his next sentence.

' _Good luck and don't over do it._ '

What was his brother thinking?!

Ryuuichi pouted as he typed back a message. ' _Do your best and I hope you get hit in the face by a plush ball._ ' And he added in a series of emojis. (He would do without the 'plush', but he didn't want his brother to injure himself.)

"Who was it?" He looked up to Hibari as he pressed send. "My brother." The prefect nodded, looking at his watch. "Let's go. I'll bring you home."

"What?" Ryuuichi blinked and looked as his own watch. He sweated. School was already over and he didn't even realized it. Then again, he did woke up like, a period before school ends anyway. It was still unbelievable that he actually fainted because of what Amemori said. How embarrassing.

He made a mental note to punch Amemori when he see him and nodded. (Somewhere, a certain dark blue haired teen sneezed.) Just as he stood up, he remembered his back pack. "My bag is still in class." Hibari suddenly picked up a black back pack out of nowhere.

"Your brother brought it over during recess." Ryuuichi remained silent. "Just how long have you been here?" Hibari gave him a lazy smirk. Ryuuichi flushed slightly and snatched the bag rather forcefully.

He clicked his tongue when he felt a twinge of pain on his right shoulder and massaged it. "Wait what about detention?" Hibari hummed. "Tomorrow." He took the bag back, slinging it on his own shoulder. Ryuuichi immediately protested and tried to take it back, but Hibari wasn't going to let him.

Instead, Hibari planted a peck on his forehead to shut him up. Hibari chuckled at how he turned red and grabbed his hand, threading their fingers together. He tugged the younger slightly. "Come on. Let's go."

Ryuuichi wondered if he was dreaming. (He slapped Hibari's arm slightly, gauging the reaction and noticed that he was  _indeed_ , not dreaming.) He squeezed his hand, a goofy smile on his face as he followed Hibari out of school grounds.

"I still don't understand how you are able to be so embarrassed. You were honestly calm before though."

"That was because I was a dumbass."

"... Pft-!"

"Wha- Don't laugh!"

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna thought that he was hallucinating. He did not just saw Hibari holding hands with Ryuuichi, did he? He rubbed his eyes again and blinked.

"Hieee!" He let out an horrified shriek before he could stopped it, gaining the two's attention. He took in how Ryuuichi turned to him and tilted his head before looking back at Hibari. In seconds, they were already walking towards him, with Ryuuichi tugging the prefect along. "Yo, Tsuna!"

"H-hey." Tsuna croaked out, voice cracking slightly. He looked at Ryuuichi, then to Hibari, then to the hands, then back at the both of them again. "A-are you guys-"

"Oh? So you guys finally got together." Reborn, a hundred and eleven centimeter tall Reborn, popped out of nowhere, looking absolutely smug. He smirked at how Tsuna squeaked and Ryuuichi flushed. Hibari merely shared a similar smirk to his. Ryuuichi elbowed the prefect on the abdomen when he noticed that and cleared his throat, changing the topic.

"How old are you now, Reborn? Physically."

"About six. Why?" Ryuuichi sweated. "You're quite tall for a six year old." The hitman shrugged. "I  _am_  tall." Tsuna then muttered. "He sure  _is_  tall when he was five."

A bullet grazed the brunette's cheek as Tsuna squeaked, moving far away from the hitman. Reborn's eyes glinted, promising torture for the poor brunette. (Ryuuichi silently prayed for Tsuna's safety.)

"Ah, speaking of which." Reborn looked back at Ryuuichi. "Can you take me as a student?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You want me to take you as an apprentice, or a student?" Ryuuichi grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "You caught me. As an apprentice, I meant."

"Why?"

Ryuuichi hummed. "Well, I won't be able to escape the fate of building up the Giudizio or the position as a middle man for Vongola and Cavallone- That sounded wrong, I know. But I'm kind of interested in the path of a hitman." Reborn didn't smile nor smirk. He looked into Ryuuichi's eyes, completely serious.

"That path is not something you can take just because you're  _interested_ , kid."

Ryuuichi met his gaze. "I said I was interested, but the truth is I want to  _learn_." The hitman stared for a little longer, finding if there was any lies or waver of resolve in his eyes. He found none. Ryuuichi wanted this.

Reborn sighed and pulled his fedora down. "Alright. I'll teach you." Ryuuichi grinned. "But I'll immediately kick you out of apprenticeship if I find you incompetent."

"Sure!" Reborn nodded, a smirk of plotting curled up on his face. "I hope that you're prepared for it,  _il mio apprendista_."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally managed to finish it! And it hit 5K I'm so happy omg.
> 
> Il mio apprendista means my apprentice in Italian.
> 
> Fact= The joke of Receive and Give was answered with both; Mukuro. Is because. Mukuro's short hand is 69. I've nothing else to say.
> 
> Yuuichi and Ryuuichi are like, if Yuuichi turned immature, Ryuuichi would be the matured one. If Ryuuichi turned immature, Yuuichi would turn matured. Like that. Though most of the time is Yuuichi being immature. *shrug*
> 
> Fun Fact= The idiot sandwich. Gordon Ramsay. Do I need to say anything else?
> 
> Fun Fact= A peck on the forehead could easily turn Ryuuichi into a flustered penguin. Really. If only it was Hibari who did it, that is. *smirks*
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi really, really can talk about a bunch of dirty things without blushing even once but he could not not blush when it comes to Hibari. Though, he only talk those things whenever he was, quoting from Yuuichi, a 'sugar-induced brat'. It took Ryuuichi almost a year before he was able to not outright blush at Hibari's touches. And no, they didn't did that until they're both legal (18yo). Hibari is too law-obsess and Ryuuichi is too embarrass.
> 
> Sometimes, I kind of wonder why Ryuuichi was so bold at times, yet so, idiotic-cute. Damn.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi said that he was a dumbass because before, he wasn't even the least bit fazed to the physical touches with Hibari since he didn't know his own feelings that time. More like he didn't realize them and was bloody dense as hell.
> 
> Yes, Ryuuichi is Reborn's apprentice of sort. There's a difference between Reborn's student and apprentice. While as a student, Reborn will only teach said student how to be a better person (*cough*) and how to deal with mafioso and such. He won't teach them the way of hitman.
> 
> However, as an apprentice, he'll be harsher and damn nicer in a sense as he drill the goddamn rule and path and blah blah blah of a hitman into said apprentice. That, and he'll literally drag them onto missions that was shitty as heck. Well, technically, he dragged both apprentice and student off to field whenever he deemed that they're ready regardless of what shit it was anyway. [Current me= *cringe* omg]
> 
> Okay. So. This is really the last chapter of the Trapped Arc. I'm so happy and sad dammit. Thank you for bearing with me this whole time! I'm really really grateful! (I still can't believe how far I've come. I'm sobbing internally rn.)
> 
> The next arc, will be, well, a gift of sort. It's not exactly a gift, but I'll be writing requests and miscellaneous things. Hence, Miscellaneous Arc! *dive into a pit hole* I've no naming sense I'm sorry.
> 
> Anyways, the amount of chapter is, not unknown, but the original plan is like, 7 long-assed chapters. Still, I'm not sure how many there will be.
> 
> The first chapter will be the character profiles and headcanons and any other things that I've actually wanted to write but didn't or whatever. I'll probably take me a while since I'll try to cover everything and the OCs. Especially the OCs. *groan*
> 
> (I feel like I'm going to screw myself with that chapter omg. I've no idea why I wanted to make that chapter but I felt like I owed a lot of explanation and stuff.)
> 
> *take deep breaths* I'm so going to die.
> 
> Edit (16/12/16): Uhm, so, I changed my mind. I'll leave the bloody character profile thing to the lassssstttttt chapter. I'm going to write others first in the mean time writing that bloody thing. It is lonnnngggggggg halp. S0s se nd heL P.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	76. Fluffy Clouds

Ryuuichi sighed. He pushed his bangs back and leaned against the door, waiting for his brother. They were late for school, which the thought itself was already horrifying since Hibari Kyouya exist, but they couldn't do anything about it. They rather go against an angry prefect than against the group of crazy fangirls Yuuichi has.

Said fangirls were all creeps, no offense, but Ryuuichi was afraid of them. He wouldn't if they were merely interested in his brother. But no, they just had to be interested in him as well and make it very,  _very_  obvious. On normal days, everything would be fine, but it is  _Valentine's Day_.

The chocolates aside, Ryuuichi once overheard a senior saying that she would put her hair into the chocolate and give it to his brother. The moment he saw his brother receiving the chocolates, he snatched it and threw it into the incinerator, ignoring the girl's squawks. He fortunately did, because the moment the package was in the incinerator, a grey fume flowed out and promptly exploded. He was officially scared for Yuuichi.

They might just not make it out alive today.

He sighed again and called out. "Yuu. Are you done?" A thump was heard from upstairs along with a series of light footsteps. Yuuichi emerged from the stairs, looking absolutely reluctant to step out of the house.

"Must we go today?"

Ryuuichi frowned at the whine. He, too, wanted to stay at home, but they were missing school too much already.  _He_  was missing school too much. He couldn't miss any more of it. That, and just the mere petty reason to skip school would enrage the Skylark more than he would be. Either way, it was a die-die situation.

Again, they might not make it out today.

"We'll die if we go out, we'll die if we don't. What do you think?" Yuuichi groaned, putting on his shoes. Ryuuichi shook his head at his brother's antics and pulled his hoodie up. Yuuichi did the same as well, the same time Ryuuichi opened the door and they both walked out of the house warily. "We'll be going now!"

"Stay safe!" Sakura's head popped out from the living room as she giggled. Her sons were so adorable.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

As expected, when they stepped onto the school ground, Hibari was there, standing like a vengeful, furious bird he is. The prefect had raised an eyebrow upon seeing them, not expecting them to be late.

Ryuuichi took one look at the prefect, another at the windows to the classrooms and sighed. He pushed his hoodie off and raised both of his hands, surrendering. Yuuichi, who was behind him, cast him a strange look, but was too wary of his surroundings. "Um, we have a reason..?"

"Said reason is?"

Ryuuichi pointed at one of the windows, where a girl was staring at them with a creepy grin on her face. Hibari glanced at the pointed direction to see two more girls joining the first, all giggling. He narrowed his eyes at them, glaring. They noticed his glare and immediately turned back to class.

Oh he knew what was going on. Why wouldn't he? (Last year was incredibly crazy, and he was expecting a gift this year.) He didn't like them. He didn't care about the younger twin's admirers, he was annoyed at the older twin's one. Had they not realize that one is his? (No, they didn't. He and Ryuuichi just started like a week ago, and they didn't even make it obvious to public eyes. Hibari,  _please_.)

But it was no excuse of the twins to be late just to avoid the girls.

"And this." He looked at Ryuuichi's raised phone, where a video of a neon pink package being thrown into the incinerator. And the explosion. He gave the twins a deadpanned look, just as they returned a similar one. He twitched. "Get going."

The twins exchanged a surprised look (They didn't die!) and nodded, thanking the prefect as they slow jogged to the building. "Go to the reception room after school, small animal." Ryuuichi stumbled to a stop and blinked at the prefect's back, who didn't even turn to him as he spoke.

"O-okay." He quickly followed his brother.

Ryuuichi face was slightly red as Yuuichi gave him a smirk. He hissed at him and pushed him slightly, Yuuichi laughed.

("I'm surprised that you still have that video."

"I'll have it forever for  _every purposes_.")

\--------------------------------------------------------------

During recess, Ryuuichi and Yuuichi had immediately sought refuge in the teachers' office, helping their class teacher with some work. They immediately took up the opportunity when their teacher wanted some helpers. Yamamoto and Gokudera were lucky enough that their fans weren't that creepy. So damn lucky. They envied them.

And when the bell rang, signifying the end of the school, they were immediately surrounded. They had no idea how, but the girls managed to get to them before they could even move from their seats. The bell had just rang like, five seconds ago. How did they even- Ryuuichi didn't even want to know.

Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera and Amemori sweated at how they were cornered by the girls. Ryuuichi spotted them staring at the crowd a meter away and grabbed his brother's arm. He had enough. His face morphed into an annoyed, cold expression and glared at the girls. "Could you guys please move?" He said coldly. Yuuichi's eyes widen in surprise, never expecting the behavior. Ryuuichi wasn't famous for being a gentle to girls for no reason.

The girls jolted and shakily moved away, creating a path. Ryuuichi nodded curtly at them and pulled Yuuichi along. He stalked up to the others, keeping his murderous intent on just in case. When he was in their earshot, he pushed his brother to Yamamoto. "Bring him home. Please." He said silently, secretly glancing to the girls' direction but no looking at them.

Yamamoto blinked and nodded. "What about you?"

Yuuichi squeezed himself between Yamamoto and Amemori, snickering slightly. "He has a date~" Ryuuichi kicked him on the shin. Yamamoto looked surprise, but ended up smirking slightly. How he was able to smirk like that, Ryuuichi did  _not_  want to know. Amemori, he had nothing to say about that arse minus the fact that Amemori had a shit eating grin on. Tsuna, on the other hand, looked a bit bashful but was amused while Gokudera looked like he wanted to kill the prefect. Yep. They knew. All because of Reborn.

Ryuuichi wanted to punch the hitman for some reason.

He growled playfully at his brother, who stuck his tongue out at him as they moved out of the classroom in haste, leaving the group of girls behind, still scared stiffen.

It wouldn't be long until they started moving again. By the stairs, they separated, Ryuuichi walking up to the next floor while the rest walked down. As he made a beeline to the reception room, he fidgeted slightly. While he was used to being alone with Hibari, he was still nervous.

The prefect had been bolder and bolder these days, but out of public sight, thankfully.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door once before sliding it open. He closed the door behind him and walked to the couch. Hibari was staring at him from his desk, a hand holding a pen, clearly doing some work. Ryuuichi gave him a sheepish smile and flopped onto the couch, releasing a loud sigh and all his tension.

The murderous intent he didn't realize that he was holding on immediately disappeared, as though it was never there in the first place. He shifted his back pack around and hugged it close to his chest, huffing. He was so  _tired_. "Something happened?"

He tilted his head to the prefect, shaking his head. "Nope, fortunately." He grunted. "Never expect the students of this school to be this crazy. Then again," He deadpanned. "This is Namimori Middle." He suddenly wanted to throw something at the smug look Hibari gave him. He did, throwing a nicely wrapped package.

As expected, Hibari caught it with ease. Ryuuichi was slightly annoyed at that and looked away. "What is this?"

"Open it."

Hibari squinted his eyes at him, as though waiting for a prank or something, but carefully peeled the wrapper open when Ryuuichi rolled his eyes at him. He hummed at the gift. "Assorted chocolates, limited edition." He raised an amused eyebrow at the teen.

Ryuuichi flushed at that and huffed. "Mind you, I did not fight for that. I brought it a week ago." He then slowly muttered, lips pouting slightly. "H-happy Valentine's Day." Hibari chuckled and walked over to him with the chocolates, siting down beside him. "Thank you. I was expecting homemade chocolate though."

"Are you trying to get me homeless?" Ryuuichi said a beat later, almost instantly as though it was said out of reflex. Hibari paused at the dead, monotonous voice and then laughed shortly. It sounded like a chuckle, but it was a laugh. Ryuuichi could tell. He pouted again at that, huffing and turned away from the prefect in retaliation.

He could practically  _feel_  the teasing smile on Hibari and yet, despite knowing that Hibari was teasing him, he couldn't help but blush. Damn his hormones. He jolted and move away in shock when he felt a kiss on his head, turning redder. "W-what-" Hibari chuckled again at his reaction. The younger wasn't used to it, unsurprisingly. Hibari wasn't complaining anyway. He had fun teasing him. The reactions were always adorable.

Really adorable.

He smirked internally at a sudden idea and pulled Ryuuichi closer, ignoring the protest. "Feed me."

".. Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Feed me." Ryuuichi was torn between wanting to chop Hibari's hands off with a cleaver, or punch the prefect in the face. He pulled a face and sighed. He gingerly took a piece of chocolate from the box and held it up to Hibari's mouth, absolutely flustered. Hibari grabbed onto the wrist and opened his mouth, and chomped onto the fingers. He felt Ryuuichi jolting and growled at him.

Smirking, he licked the fingers, tasting the chocolate. He tighten his hold on the wrist when Ryuuichi tried to pull away, shivers running down the younger's spine.

"H-Hibari!"

He finally let go of the fingers, licking his lips. "Sweet." Ryuuichi shivered at that again, wanting nothing but to move away from Hibari. His face was steaming and his flight or fight switch was on.

He wanted to run away  _again_. He probably would, if Hibari didn't have a vice grip on him. He was probably going to lose it.

The chocolates were then placed on the coffee table as Hibari pulled him onto his lap, facing him, before he could even say anything, his back pack fell onto the ground. His breath hitched when Hibari held him close, nuzzling his face onto the crook of his neck. He decided. Hibari is a cat rather than a skylark.

Or maybe, he's both.

Yep.

"I love you." He so did not peg him to be a cheesy one. Definitely not. Ryuuichi let out a small sound and hid his face, which was useless since Hibari had already saw it. The prefect cupped his cheeks and gave him a kiss on the lips.

Ryuuichi immediately dived onto Hibari's shoulder and tried to calm himself down, ignoring the prefect's chuckle. (He tasted like chocolate. Ryuuichi can _not_.) Just how many times does he want to  _laugh_  at Ryuuichi? "You're too adorable for your own good, Ryuuichi."

"I'm  _not_ adorable."

Hibari snorted at the muffled words. "You are." He said huskily, somehow managed to pepper small kisses on the other's cheeks despite the angle, feeling the skin jolting at his touches. "You are my adorable small animal."

"... You're too cheesy for my heart and I did  _not_  see that coming." Ryuuichi let out a small screech, face still buried on Hibari's shoulder. "Wha-" He jolted up and punched the prefect on the chest when he felt the hands moving to against his sides. He paled a little at the mischievous glint in those bluish grey eyes. "N _o-_ "

Loud hysterical laughter echoed in the room.

Kusakabe's hand froze in midst of sliding the door open. He sweated. 'I better not disturb them..' He still wanted to live after all.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reborn was slightly impressed at Ryuuichi's progress. He had only started the teen's training a month ago, and he was already accustomed to his task. While Reborn would be able to do it better, it was still impressive for a teen who only trained alone most of the time.

Perhaps it was the abilities of his. Not quite possible with Reborn's given task, however.

He had the teen blindfolded, and left him up at the mountain alone, telling him to head to Tsuna's house with it on the whole time. And arrived he did, a day and a half later with his blindfold still on and littered with bruises and scratches. He managed to do it with the help of his flames, apparently, constantly pulling on it and made it a guide instead. A really good idea, but not ideal. Reborn wanted him to get accustomed to the disability of sight, and the lack of flame usage.

That, and Ryuuichi's current strongest point is his eyes, specifically, 'Sight'. He's the kind of person who acts on sight, and it may be a good thing, but Reborn made it a point that planning is essential as well. Ryuuichi lack of planning quirks, as how Reborn would put it.

So he banned him to use his flames for the whole month, suppressing them, reeling them in control and stop relying on them unless in emergencies. The blindfold was on for the whole month as well, much to Ryuuichi's chagrin and Reborn's glee. The hitman had at least made an excuse for him because he needed to be blindfolded during classes as well.

Sadistic, Tsuna had said. The brunette was immediately silent and ordered to run five lap around Namimori borders. Plus another ten with the whines.

Ryuuichi managed to do it, surprisingly, with great difficulty. Reborn had made sure that he stopped using his flames, by smacking a seal on. (Said seal looked like a talisman, but  _did it do its job_. Ryuuichi wondered where the hell Reborn got it.) It was tiring, trying to no fully let go of his flames, but it was worth it. He managed to heighten his senses more than they should be already.

Now, if only Reborn stop ambushing him whenever he was out and Hibari quit trying to fight him because of the damn blindfold.

Which was futile since the next task Reborn gave him was to fight Mukuro,  _with the blindfold on_. Perhaps if it was Hibari or Gokudera, it would be easy but a mist user along with the ban of his flames' usage still on? He might just die.

He was already getting a headache at the illusions Mukuro had used. The blunette's illusion managed to push him off the track even without seeing it. How amazing. And annoying. He huffed and shook his head, pushing the headache back. "Focus, Ryuuichi-kun." The familiar chuckle pissed him off more than he already was. He jumped back just in time to avoid the trident, his bo stick in hand.

He flicked his wrist, hitting the trident with the end of his bo stick. He was trying to aim at any body parts of Mukuro's, but he couldn't really tell and the damn trident. Ryuuichi was pushed back by a sudden force and he felt his leg touching some kind of an edge, the walkway, probably. He sweated.

There was suddenly more than one presence, all Mukuro's at each direction. 'What..' He clicked his tongue and gripped his bo stick tighter.

"Find me, Ryuuichi-kun." Even the voice multiplied. How did Mukuro do it? Ryuuichi frowned and let out a breath. He forced himself to release his tension and loosen his grip. He focused on the presences, trying to figure which was the real one when he felt a different one. He didn't get too far to make out who it was as Mukuro attacked him again.

"Goddammit you bloody shit!" The chuckle was heard again as he blocked the trident. "Focus." Mukuro said again, in a singing manner. He kicked Ryuuichi at the stomach, totally open. Ryuuichi was thrown back. He had expected to hit a tree or land at his back or something, but he hadn't expect himself to fell into a familiar pair of arms.

"Wait- Hibari?"

"It seems like the Skylark is joining~" A snarl filled his ears as he pushed Hibari away, still frowning. "Let me finish this first." He turned back to Mukuro, and attacked him. Somehow, Hibari had snapped whatever was clouding his mind and making his temper worst. Damn Mukuro.

"Oya, that's cheating, Ryuuichi-kun." Ryuuichi snorted, bringing down his bo stick to hit supposedly Mukuro's shoulder. "Said the one who kicked me in that direction." He bit back, grabbing onto the leg that aimed for his side. "You sure like using your leg, Mukuro."

A hand grabbed his neck, tightening. "Who said so?" Ryuuichi twitched at that, could clearly  _hear_  the smirk. He dug his nails into the leg and pulled with all his strength. Mukuro was stumbled forward, surprised that Ryuuichi could still bother with his leg even when he was choking him and cutting off his airway. "Hmm~ Impressive."

Ryuuichi gritted his teeth, trying to breath. He abandoned his bo stick, hearing the clatter of the metal falling onto the ground and aimed a hard punch on Mukuro's ribs. He heard Mukuro coughed slightly and punched again. The other hand released it's grasp on the leg and grabbed the hand on , literally ripping it off with his strength.

And with the last, he kneed the other on the abdomen.

He had no idea what happened, but Mukuro's free hand released his trident and pulled him down onto the ground, and they ended up tumbling around, trying to pin each other down. Mukuro managed to hold him down, somehow, panting slightly. Ryuuichi was no better, dead tired. Every part of his body was aching, and hurting. His back and abdomen was probably bruised. Oh well, at least he managed to injure Mukuro as well.

"Okay. That's enough for today." Reborn appeared out of nowhere. At his words, Mukuro loosen his grip on his hands, not letting go, however. Ryuuichi suddenly felt a small bit of dread. "Mukuro what are you-" He stiffen when he felt the other's face close to his.

"Shhh.." Ahh, he understood. Mukuro was trying to enrage Hibari. How expected. Ryuuichi sighed and gave up as he felt Mukuro jumping away from him to dodge the Skylark's tonfa. He lied there, hands spread apart and resting. He had no energy to care about anything anymore. How long had he been sparring with Mukuro again?

"About four hours." Said Reborn, very amused. The hitman loomed over the teen, who was huffing at that. "You did well, but not good enough. Tomorrow morning, ten laps around the mountain." Ryuuichi groaned but said nothing to protest. He would do it despite the dread. And the mountain. Really. He didn't like it. He almost killed himself by falling off the cliff  _again_  when he was finding his way back blindfolded.

"You can take your blindfold off now, that's done." He let out a small 'yay'.

"The flames?"

"Still banned." Ryuuichi pouted. Reborn merely rolled his eyes and held his hand out for the teen to take. Ryuuichi took it with no hesitation, something that Reborn was a slightly perplexed because his hands are tainted, figuratively. More so than Ryuuichi's. But then again, Tsuna was the same. He pushed his thoughts back and pulled him up.

Ryuuichi stumbled slightly, his leg was really aching and sore. He wondered how was he going to survive the ten laps tomorrow. Well, at least Reborn didn't tell him to immediately run. He would probably lose control of his own two feet and ended up with none. Really.

And Fartlek, huh. He should ask his brother to join him, if he didn't have morning practices.

He blinked, still holding onto Reborn's hand. "Your hand is surprisingly warmer than I thought."

"And your hand is colder than I thought."

He shrugged. "I've low body temperature. What can I do?" He finally let go, raising it up to his face and touched the black cloth over his eyes. He should probably not take it off first lest he wanted to go blind. He turned to the other two, who was still fighting given the sound of metal clashing with metal and the fast moving presences. He shook his head. "Let's go?"

Reborn quirked an eyebrow. "Not waiting for your boyfriend?" He smirked at the slight hue on those pale cheeks. "No. He would probably ended up trying to get me into a spar or something. I rather not."

Ah, it was kind of cute when Ryuuichi was pouting. Hibari sure is lucky. Reborn hummed and followed the teen out of Kokuyo Land. "You do know that he would pay you a visit tonight, no?"

"... I'm going to lock everything up."

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had no idea how did Hibari got in with his door and window locked, curtains drawn. In fact, his parents and brother were asleep and there was no chance of anyone letting the prefect in. Just,  _how_ , because Ryuuichi woke up in the middle of the night to another warm body holding him close.

He was dead tired, and half asleep, so he couldn't process anything at all, his mind was like dead. He simply went back to sleep. Whatever it is, he'll leave it to tomorrow, when the sun's up and burning.

Hibari cracked an eye open and smiled at the sight of the sleeping teen. He pulled the other closer, and tighter. The prefect had never felt so in peace with another person beside him before, and he loves it.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

"Umm, Ryuuichi." Ryuuichi did not peer over to the brunette, who was running behind him slightly and locked his eyes on the roots of the tree, not wanting to trip over. "You have a.. Bite mark on your nape." He stumbled, but continued to run.

A beat later. "What kind of mark-!" Ryuuichi leaped over a large hole that suddenly popped out of nowhere, hands reaching back and grabbed Tsuna's shirt, pulling him along.

"Teeth and all!" Tsuna shrieked.

Ryuuichi was so going to kill Hibari.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi didn't like summer, nor did he dislike it. Occasionally, he loves it yet sometimes, he hates it. That goes the same with the heat, minus the fact that he mostly hate it.

And now, he hate it  _so_  badly.

Summer holiday is one thing, but summer heat plus school and P.E was really killing him. He had no idea why or how his brother and Amemori could stand it, or even have the energy to do any sports at all. Ryuuichi cannot understand.

As the heat was too unbearable for him, he had to sit out during P.E as the guys played rugby, of all the games they could play. Their teacher is either a sadist, or a spartan. He just couldn't do it. He wasn't much of an athlete in that aspect anyway, other than his stamina.

He groaned, feeling like he was melting despite not doing anything and merely sitting under the shade. He couldn't even lean against the damn wall for support. Sweat rolled down from his forehead and down his neck, some dripped onto the ground. The salty liquid immediately evaporated upon hitting the cement.

It was  _that_  hot.

Ryuuichi suddenly wanted to do skinny dipping into the pool, but he can't swim and the water is probably hot as well. Damn.

"Oi Shiro." He briefly lifted his head up to look at the P.E teacher, who was glancing down at him with slight concern. "Go to the infirmary if you're not feeling well." He grunted and nodded weakly.

"Yess.." He drawled out and stood, staying in the shade as he headed into the building. He then frowned slightly when he climbed up to the second floor. The infirmary's air-con was malfunctioning, if he remembered correctly. "Ugh." He went up to the last floor and headed to the reception room.

Some dictator Hibari is, to have both a heater and an air-con in the reception room.

He didn't even bother to knock and just slid the door open, sighing in relief at the sudden blast of comforting cold air. Oh, right. He forgotten that Hibari doesn't even attend any classes. How?

"What brings you here during class session, small animal?" Ryuuichi stood by the door, cooling his sweat dry. It was both disturbing, and disgusting, but he didn't care. He didn't even have the energy to bother with the narrowed eyes Hibari was giving him.

"Sensei told me to go to the infirmary if I was going to die. Infirmary is hot. Here is cold. I'm going to die here instead."

He wobbled over to the couch and flopped onto the couch like a fish. Except, the fish probably have more grace than him He felt sick and his head was hurting slightly. Even his eyes were hurting.

"If you're going to die, die outside." Hibari said in a demanding manner, but Ryuuichi paid no heed to it. He didn't want to move. Instead, he flailed his hands and groaned loudly. Hibari twitched and heaved a silent sigh.

He pulled out a packet of dried sour plums from the drawers of his desk and threw it at Ryuuichi, who caught it with ease despite the sprawling position he was on. Kusakabe had stocked it up, knowing that Ryuuichi was addicted to these sour plums and had been frequently going in and out of the prefect's office nowadays.

That, and Hibari had taken a liking on it as well. (Kusakabe wouldn't tell a single soul if it was meant to live, but he was glad that Ryuuichi had been coming over recently. The Discipline Committee's president was always in a good mood whenever he was around.)

Ryuuichi's eyes lit up at the dried sour plums and immediately opened the packet, plopping one into his mouth. "Thanks! I thought I was going to get sick just now."

"Outside." He rolled his eyes, sucking on the sour treat. He stared at Hibari, who resumed to his work and wondered.

"Are you going to attend high school anytime soon?"

"I already have." His eyes widen. "What? Wait so you're actually graduated from Middle School? Why are you still here?"

Hibari looked at him in an exasperated manner. "I've graduated from both since I was 8. What are you talking about?" Ryuuichi nodded slowly.

"So you're those kids who skip grades and is actually a bloody genius in every expect minus the fact that you're bloody violent for the world to take."

"You certainly have no filter when its summer."

"It's  _summer_. And it's hot like hell. Who give a damn now? But seriously, if you've graduated from both, why are you still attending middle school? Or school, in general fact. Shouldn't you be in college or university or something? Not that I'm complaining since I'm able to meet you but still?"

Hibari smirked at the last sentence. He hummed slightly. "Attachment. I like it here. This is my place. You're here."

Ryuuichi flushed a little, if his face wasn't already red from the heat. "I won't be here when I graduated?"

"Which is why, I'm going following the moment you did."

He slapped his forehead. Of course Hibari would. And when he did, both Nami-chuu and Nami-koko would be under Hibari's reign and power. Hibari loves Namimori too much to even be considered as healthy. Then again, there's flaming mafiosi and tame beasts with said flames as well.

He sighed, suddenly feeling sleepy. Scratch that. He had been feeling sleepy the whole day.

Hibari raised an amused eyebrow when Ryuuichi literally dozed off. He let out a soft chuckle and stood up, walking silently towards the younger. Crouching down, he pulled his jacket over the lithe frame. He didn't want Ryuuichi to fall ill just like that even though the thought of nursing him was quite tempting.

A ghost smile appeared on his face as he brushed a strain of stray hair from Ryuuichi's face. Ryuuichi scrunched his nose slightly but didn't even woke up, shifting to a more comfortable position.

Hibari shook his head and went back to his desk.

( _Sky or not, Hibari would follow Ryuuichi to the end of the world, even if it was meant to severe the harmonized bond he has with the brunette_.)

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna met the mid autumn morning with a leaf on the face. Literally. He had just stepped out of the house, just one tiny measly step, and an amber leaf smacked into his face. He sputtered and brush it off, pouting. It was getting more windy nowadays, and Reborn was at it again. The training was so unbearable sometimes.

Yet, he was lucky that he wasn't Ryuuichi, as the teen got so much worst on his end. ('Sorry, Ryuuichi.')

Reborn wanted him to walk to school, on his hands. Is that considered walking anymore? Handstand to school? Tsuna didn't know. He sighed and closed the door, hurried to school. Just as he crossed a T-junction, Ryuuichi ran into him and pulled him down. "Wha-"

He shut up when bullets rained down at them. "Dammit!" Tsuna immediately went into Hyper Dying Will mode and pulled Ryuuichi up into the air, flying away as Ryuuichi shield them from the bullets. "What was going on?" He mentally cursed his intuition for not warning him. It was silent the whole time.

"Assassin. Not targeting you, don't worry. More like, he was targeting me."

Tsuna sweated and flew them to Namimori Middle, landing on the rooftop. "Why?"

"Reborn." And, that explained all. Never mind the details, once Reborn is involved, everything will be explained with just the hitman's name. (He was certain that Reborn is rather proud of that.)

Ryuuichi grumbled, his flames under control. If he lose it now, he would probably suffer more than he already was when his flames was sealed. "Have to deal with him, but how?" He didn't want to kill him, not when all of these was just an misunderstanding.

Reborn had the mind to message the assassin an anonymous threat under Ryuuichi's name. Now, the assassin was trying to obliterate him in anyway possible. "Need my help?" Tsuna asked, his flames dispersing. Ryuuichi shook his head. "Nah. Don't want to involve you with this shit of a situation."

He looked over the fence and see if he could spot the assassin. It would be troublesome if he decided to attack him here. Not that he was worried of the students safety. He was more worried of the assassin's life since this is Hibari's territory.

He huffed and shook his head. "Oh well. I'll just have to wait for them to come." Tsuna looked like he was against that very idea. "Don't worry. It'll be alright."

Probably.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

The assassin's mistake was one, and a huge one, that is attacking Ryuuichi when he was on the roof top alone with Hibari. He had aimed the gun at Ryuuichi's head for a clean shot from tallest tree in the school compound, completely ignoring the fact that the prefect was there, and pulled the trigger.

Only, the bullet was deflected and Ryuuichi's head immediately snapped to his direction. A chain sudden shot to his direction and circled around his wrist, securing itself on and literally pulled him up and over the fence. Like, the chain  _pulled_  him from the tree to the rooftop, which was a good ten meter away. How was that even possible?

He ended up falling flat on the floor, still shock as Hibari attacked him. He almost screeched at the tonfa, holding his hands up to block them. He wasn't a professional assassin for nothing, however. He flipped back, leaping onto the water tank to put a distance between the prefect and him.

Hibari snarled and jumped up as well, attacking. The assassin immediately met the attacks, aiming to kill. Ryuuichi sweated at their face paced fight and sighed. "Sora, please."

The wolf appeared got in between the two, growling loudly as they ceased fire. Tensed in their stances. "Can you guys stop and let's talk?"

"Is there anything to even talk about?" The assassin said, voice thick with accent. "You declared that you would kill me if I don't."

"I what?" Ryuuichi's eyes widen before he slapped himself on the forehead. "I'm sorry, but that's all a misunderstanding." He rubbed the back of his head, sighing. "I didn't send that. Reborn did."

It was the assassin's turn to be surprised. He jaw dropped slightly as he blinked. "The  _Reborn_?"

"The one and only." Reborn popped out of nowhere, looking absolutely smug. "Yo, Hitler."

Ryuuichi did a double take. Hitler? Really? What was the assassin thinking of, taking up that name. (He wouldn't be surprise if a lot of people wanted to kill him because of the name, seeing that his reaction after receiving the letter was a bit over the top.)

"Signore Reborn. What is the meaning of this?"

Reborn smirked as Ryuuichi backed away from the hitman slightly, not liking the smirk. Nothing good ever come out of that smirk. "As what you can see. My apprentice has challenged you."

"I have  _not_!" Seemed like Hitler didn't even care about what he had shouted and glared at him. "Is that so. I've never thought that you would have an apprentice, signore Reborn, but it seems like I'd have to end him."

"Do your best." And Hitler leaped at him, a dagger in hand. Ryuuichi yelped, grunting in frustration as he blocked the dagger with his bo stick. "I did not challenge you! I don't even  _know_  you in the first place!"

"Then what is my name?"

"Hitler?! Or something?! How the hell I know?!"

"You just said it." Ryuuichi yelped when a chain got in between them and pulled the assassin back by the neck as it whirled itself onto the neck. Hitler choked. "Hibari- Don't kill him!"

Hibari snarled, pulling his tonfa up. "He tried to kill you."

Ryuuichi ruffled his hair in a frantic manner and reached over to pull the chains away. "It was all because of a misunderstanding!" Hitler was still glaring at him despite him trying to save him. Ryuuichi groaned loudly again, deciding to speak in Italian instead. " _I'm sorry, signore, but my_ mentor _,_ " He shot a look at the hitman. " _Decided it was a good thing to send you the threat because wanted to see how I deal with the situation. I didn't send you the threat._ "

He finally managed to pry the chain off, Hitler taking deep breath. " _How do I know that you are not lying?_ "

" _I don't even know you..?_ "

" _You said my name just now_."

"..  _Your name is seriously Hitler?_ "

" _Yes_." Ryuuichi wanted to slap himself again. For various of reason. He managed to stop himself just in time. " _Reborn said your name when he greeted you._ "

Hitler 'oh'-ed and nodded. He glanced at Reborn, finally realizing that he was being played. It didn't sit well with him, but he knew better than going after Reborn. He still value his life after all. " _My apologies then. You're a good person, kid. What's your name?_ "

Ryuuichi twitched. He wondered if he should give the man his real name. Before he could even say anything, Reborn had already spoken for him. " _Shiroki Ryuuichi. The son of Shiroki Kei._ " The assassin paled. He blanched even further when he saw the slight resemblance on Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi had no idea that his father is  _this_  famous.

" _S-sorry. I'm very sorry. I'll leave now._ " And the assassin leaped away, literally.

"Hey." Hibari sounded murderous. Ryuuichi mentally cursed, backing away from the prowling Skylark. "Who said you could let my prey go?"

'Oh shit.'

"I'll bite you to death!"

Ryuuichi swore that he would pay Reborn back this  _favor_.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi woke up late, sometime around afternoon, having to sleep in on a holiday. Specifically, the last day of the year. He stumbled downstairs after washing up and noticed that his brother wasn't around. His parents couldn't make it for Christmas or New Year, having to do last minute work.

He squinted his eyes at the small note on the fridge. Apparently, his brother had went out with his friends and wouldn't be back until tomorrow morning. Ryuuichi hummed. He supposed he should head out for lunch, since Yuuichi didn't managed to cook anything. (He suspected that his friends literally pulled him out before he could. Not surprising, honestly.) He went back upstairs for a change, pocketing his phone and house key. He pulled his black jacket over the dark blue sweater he was wearing and grabbed his scarf, forgoing his gloves.

"Wait. Will there be any shops open..?" Oh well, he just have to see if he was lucky.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Not much luck. Most of the shops were closed, except for the hypermarkets and small grocery shops. He sighed and headed into the hypermarket, grabbing two packets of red bean bun. He headed to the cashier and was about to pay when a basket full with meat and vegetable was placed beside his purchases.

"These as well." He jerked his head up to see Hibari behind him and blinked. "Hibari?"

"Hey." Hibari nudged him over and paid for the things he brought, including Ryuuichi's despite the younger's protest. He raised an eyebrow at that as Ryuuichi pouted. "You haven't eat?" Ryuuichi shrugged. "Nope. Yuu's out." He reached over to take the plastic bags when Hibari took all of it in a flash of an eye and walked out of the door. Ryuuichi gaped and hurried along.

"Damn it at least let me take one!" The cashier watched them in awe, a small blush on her face.

After much argument, Hibari finally let Ryuuichi took the lightest bag, much to Ryuuichi's annoyance. Though, he would have to deal with it. He remained with a pout as they slowly walked to where Hibari was heading. "Why are you buying so many things..?"

"There's nothing in the fridge and Tetsu's out on holiday with his family."

He hummed and rummaged the bag. Fortunately, his bread was in it as he took it out and ate it. "You?"

"What about me?"

He swallowed. "Are you celebrating New Year alone or your parents came back? And have you eaten as well?" Hibari's parents worked at the capital of Japan, Tokyo. As what, Ryuuichi didn't know, but since the Hibaris main branch is in Tokyo, he suspected that it has something to do with the family. He never met Hibari's parents before, now that he thought of it. He wondered what kind of people they were.

"Alone, as usual. No, I haven't." Ryuuichi blinked at the first answer, yet he said nothing of it. He simply rummaged the bag again and pulled out the other bread, handing it over to the prefect. "Here."

Hibari gave him what he deemed as a bewildered look even though he only looked slightly uncertain. "Take it." Hibari hesitated before taking the bread from Ryuuichi, fingers brushing his. "Thank you." He hummed cheerfully, swinging the bag slightly. "Are you coming over?" He snapped his head to Hibari, eyes wide as the prefect ate the bread, looking him in the eyes.

Ryuuichi chomped onto the bread as he looked away, chewing slowly as though he was considering. Which he wasn't. He was just a bit nervous. Only a bit. "If you don't mind." Hibari nodded and they walked to the prefect's house in silence, both eating the bread. Ryuuichi finished it first when he saw a glimpse of the Shrine up on the hill. He tilted his head.

Hibari noticed the stare and asked. "Do you want to visit the Shrine?" There shouldn't be a lot of people now, since it was still early. Perhaps they could make a detour. "Are you okay with it?" Hibari grunted and took his hand, pulling him to the Shrine's direction. Ryuuichi turned a bit red when Hibari interlocked their fingers together, holding on. "H-Hibari. We're in public."

"Since when you care about what people think?" He frowned. "I don't, but.."

Hibari tighten the grip. "Stop worrying about it." He pulled Ryuuichi closer and kissed him on the lips as a group of people passed by them. They were stunned shock as Ryuuichi blushed. He sputtered and quickly hid his red face from the group. Hibari chuckled and continued his track, ignoring the sudden squeal from one of the girls in the group. Ryuuichi merely turned redder at that.

"Namimori isn't that narrowed minded."

"Are you talking about the people, or the town itself?"

Hibari snorted. They climbed up the stairs, hands still holding onto each other despite the looks from those they passed by. Ryuuichi shook his head to calm himself down, lips pursing. They say Hibari is a cold person who doesn't care about anyone's feelings, and what was Hibari doing now? And Hibird. They should've seen him with Hibird a lot of times. It made Ryuuichi wonder if they were blind, or  _blind_.

But then again, if Ryuuichi was the only one who know this side of Hibari.. He smiled.

When they reached the top, Ryuuichi eyes sparkled at the sight of white snow on the ground and the roof top of the Shrine. He pulled Hibari's hand slightly, pointing at the altar. "Shall we go pray? Since it's the last day of the year."

They headed to the altar and pray they did. Ryuuichi clapped his hands twice and closed his eyes. 'I hope everyone will be happy even when years passed. And..' He made a small peek at Hibari, who had his eyes closed as well. 'I hope to be with Hibari forever.'

He blushed at his own thoughts. The bowed one last time and walked away, letting the other visitors to pray as well. "I never thought that you're religious." Hibari suddenly said as they took their fortune slip from the miko. Ryuuichi shrugged, thanking her. "Not really. I can't say that I don't believe in god, but I can't say that I believe in them either. Caelum told me that Death God exist, so I'm not so sure."

He cheered mentally despite getting small luck. "I didn't think that you're religious as well." He blinked at the love section. Apparently, he might meet problems and conflicts. How unamusing. "I'm not."

He turned to Hibari, head tilted. "Huh." He chuckled and changed the topic altogether. "What did you get?"

"Big luck." Ryuuichi's eyes widen in pleasant surprise and grinned. "Ain't that great?" Hibari stared at the younger before looking back at his slip. "I suppose." He smiled slightly. He folded the paper neatly and slid it into his pocket. "Shall we go?"

"Yep!"

\--------------------------------------------------------------

"You didn't tell me you have a kotatsu."

"You never asked." Ryuuichi whined slightly as he snuggled into the warm cloth, sighing. It was chilling outside, and while he didn't like heat that much, this was appreciated. They never had a kotatsu because they had never needed one. Ryuuichi's house has a really good heater, so it was never a problem.

Hibari took off his scarf and hung it on the clothes hanger along with his coat. "Take off your jacket and scarf." Ryuuichi groaned and did as told, handing them to Hibari as Hibari hung it as well. "Let's watch some movie marathon." Ryuuichi suddenly suggested.

Hibari didn't remember agreeing, but he ended up pulling out his laptop and as they browsed through the Internet. "So, Harry Potter, or Sherlock Holmes?"

"The Conjuring."

"No."

"Sherlock." Ryuuichi chuckled and clicked the video. "Figures." Hibari pluck in the charger as the video played. He walked over to Ryuuichi and before Ryuuichi could shift to give him space, he sat behind Ryuuichi and pulled him onto his lap, cuddling. He planted his head on the shoulder as Ryuuichi sputtered. "W-what-"

He shushed him, smirking evilly when Ryuuichi flushed for the nth time. His hands caressed his torso over the sweater under the kotatsu, winding his arms around Ryuuichi into a vice grip. "H-hey!" He let out a small, content sigh as he snuggled. Ryuuichi struggled instead, trying to get away but the prefect wouldn't let him.

"It's starting." He suppressed a shudder when Hibari whispered into his ears. He huffed, knowing that he couldn't do anything and gave up, settling down to watch the show as war cries echoed from the laptop. He twitched a little.

"Hibari. Focus on the movie and stop trying to molest me."

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Around the last episode of the third season, Ryuuichi had fallen asleep in Hibari's arms. The prefect peered at the peaceful face, smiling at the soft snores. He reached over the laptop and stopped the video, closing it. A yawn erupted from his own lips as he placed them both into lying position, still holding onto Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi reminded him of a hibernating squirrel. He didn't even stir when Hibari turned him so that he would face him, dead to the world. (It made him wonder how could someone be so relaxed in front of him like he wouldn't kill him. He wouldn't, but perhaps if he wasn't that close to Ryuuichi, he might.) He gently tugged the hair tie off Ryuuichi's dark brown hair and threaded his fingers into it, scratching the scalp slightly.

Ryuuichi hummed a little, shifting closer to Hibari. The prefect let out a soft chuckle at that and placed a small peck on the other's forehead. He closed his eyes and their breathing steadied into a pace, sleeping with the kotatsu keeping them warm.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Hot. That was what Ryuuichi felt after hours and hours of sleep. He didn't understand. It was probably zero degree outside, and he felt like he was in a sauna. He let out a soft, whine and cracked his eyes open despite not wanting to.

He didn't expect to see Hibari's face inches away from his. He 'eep'-ed and leaned back slightly. Hibari's eyes snapped open. They flashed murderously for a second before softening. "What is it?" He asked sleepily, pulling Ryuuichi closer. Ryuuichi gaped like a goldfish. He almost blushed.  _Almost_.

"Dammit it's too hot- Let me gooo." He whined, trying to shift away. Hibari grunted, didn't want to, but Ryuuichi kept on struggling so he relented. His grip slacken enough for Ryuuichi to shift away before the younger promptly crawled out of the kotatsu, sighing at the cold air.

"You really don't like the heat, huh." Ryuuichi flopped on the wooden ground, was still sleepy. "No, I don't. Not really." He yawned loudly. "What time is it?" Hibari sat up, hair tussled as he looked at his phone. "9 P.M." Ryuuichi blinked. "So we skipped dinner." He, too, sat up into sitting position.

He ran his fingers through his hair and noticed that his hair was untied. He reached out his hand to Hibari, but the prefect merely gestured him to sit nearer. "Let me tie them."

Ryuuichi frowned although he complied. He pursed his lips as he felt Hibari's hands combing his hair, finding it a bit embarrassing. Though endearing. He breathed in shakily as he felt the familiar pull of the hair tie. "Thanks." He blinked when he felt a small kiss on his head.

He turned a bit red as Hibari smirked. Just how did Hibari always managed to throw him off course? He pouted and ruffled Hibari's hair instead. He laughed at the horrendous bed hair, but his laughter stopped short when he felt another presence in the house. Two, actually.

They snapped their head to the door as it slid open, a man and a woman stood there, staring at them with wide eyes.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

'How did things ended up like this?!?!' Ryuuichi screamed internally, totally stiff as Hibari's parents sized him up at the opposite. He kept his eyes on the cup of tea on the dining table as Hibari let out an inaudible sigh, arms crossed.

Hibari's father, Hibari Mamoru, turned to the prefect with a blank look. In contrary to popular believe, Hibari looked nothing like his father except for the eyes and hair. He looked more like his mother, Hibari Yue, who in turn, looked like Fon. Ryuuichi couldn't believe it. He was sweating cold bullets as Yue kept on staring at him.

"So," He twitched a little when Yue spoke, eyes finally leaving him to Hibari. "Who is this?"

"My mate." Ryuuichi snapped his head to Hibari with his eyes so wide that it might just popped out if someone gently pushed him from behind. He punched the prefect's leg under the table. Hibari frowned at him, silently asking what was wrong with him. Ryuuichi literally screeched in his mind. 'That is not what you should say!!'

He jumped a little when Yue turned to him, surprised. Ryuuichi couldn't tell if it was pleasant or not. "What's your name, boy." 'Please don't call me boy...' He sobbed internally.

"Um, Shiroki Ryuuichi." Mamoru raised an eyebrow at him. "You managed to catch Shiroki Kei and Shiroki Sakura's spawn?" What was with his parents being famous and he didn't even  _know_?!

Hibari merely shrugged. "How long?"

"A year."

Yue looked scandalized. " _That_  long? And you never told us?"

"You never asked." Ryuuichi's mouth clamped shut as a small dagger shot out of nowhere towards Hibari. The prefect wasn't even fazed as he caught it in between his fingers. He placed the dagger on the table and uncrossed his hands. Yue pouted, didn't like how her son was the same as her husband most of the time. And the animal metaphor and all. Sheesh.

"Can you believe it?" Yue said to Ryuuichi as the younger blinked. "He never rely on us anymore. It's so sad. He used to be so cute." Ryuuichi sweated. While he could imagine that the prefect would be adorable when he was younger, but Yue's reaction was a bit over the top.

Or, her fake reaction was over the top.

Mamoru took notice of how Ryuuichi saw through her act immediately and nodded in approval. "Sharp." Ryuuichi jerked his head to Mamoru at the word. "Well trained, wise," Is.. Is he observing him? "Quite strong.." Mamoru nodded again. "You're indeed Shiroki Kei's son."

".. What does my father  _and_  my mother has anything to do with this?" Ryuuichi blurted out. Rather than scolding himself because of that, he remained calm as he waited for an answer. He needed it, because how did Hibari's parents know of his parents? Unless they used to be schoolmates, or Hibari's parents are in the mafia as well.

Yue giggled. "Oh, your mother is our friend in high school." Bingo.

"And your father is quite a famous assassin."

Ryuuichi nodded. He knew his father was famous-- "You know?!" Mamoru suddenly smirked. It was so sharp that Ryuuichi couldn't help but inch away slightly. "Have Kyouya not tell you? We're the Yakuza." He blanked out. He reached over and punched Hibari on the shoulder, giving him a disbelief look.

"What?!" Hibari grunted. "You-"

"Your father was the one who stopped your mother from joining the Yakuza." Yue said cheerfully. Too cheerful, as the matter of fact. "He didn't want your mother to taint her hand. Although, it was quite an useless attempt since she's in the mafia with him." If Ryuuichi didn't know, he might think that Yue had some grudge with his father. Perhaps she does. Oh god.

Which, now that he think about it, explained why Fon was in the triad.

"U-um. Senpai is going to be in the mafia as well..?" His mind was spinning.

"We knew. Vongola, right? It's alright." What is with these adults?!

"And you?" Mamoru asked. "What would you be?"

Ryuuichi scrunched his nose a little. "I.. I'm supposed to be the middle man for Vongola and Cavallone..?" He blinked. 'Wait. Why are we talking about this?!' He slapped himself on the forehead.

Mamoru hummed, slightly impressed. He seemed to understood Ryuuichi's inner turmoil as he changed the subject. "So I suppose your parents knew of your relationship with my son."

Ryuuichi flushed and slowly nodded. "Y-yeah." Yue then interrupted. "Why do you like Kyouya?"

He tilted his head slightly, ignoring Hibari's sudden intense stare. "Do I need a reason to..? I mean.." His voice faltered as Yue stared at him. 'Did I say something wrong?' He jumped when she let out a squeal. "Kyouya! You found the right one! Congratulation!"

Hibari smirked, eyes glinting as he looked at the younger. Ryuuichi pointedly avoided his stare and looked away, face red. Mamoru chuckled at that as he calmed his wife down. "Yue, calm down."

"Father, Mother. Why did you come back?"

"Can't we? Oh. We disturbed your time with Shiroki-kun, huh." Ryuuichi sputtered at Mamoru. "Don't worry. We'll have to go back to the main house in a while more. We just came back to check on you."

"Since when do I need to be checked?" Mamoru arched an elegant eyebrow. Ryuuichi's mind must be malfunctioning because how could someone raise their eyebrow elegantly? He must have something wrong. "If we didn't, do you think we'll know about your relationship?"

Hibari grunted. Mamoru shook his head at his son. "Shiroki-kun. Please take care of my wayward son. I apologize for his personality." Ryuuichi nodded. "It's okay. It's him after all. More like, I should be apologizing for troubling him.."

'Hoh. Honest and straightforward as well.' He paled a little when Hibari's father smirked again. Hibari definitely got most of his gene from Hibari's parents. Especially in terms of personality from Mamoru. And they say Hibari was the scary one. Ryuuichi felt like he was going to lose it.

"Well, we should head off now." Yue protested, wanting to talk with Ryuuichi longer. Mamoru merely grabbed her hand and pulled her out. "Oh, right. Happy New Year, Kyouya, Shiroki-kun."

They both stared as the two adult walked out of the dining room, and the could hear the soft click of the front door locking and the car.

"What just happened?" Hibari smirked at Ryuuichi, looking absolutely smug. "'It's him after all', huh." Ryuuichi flushed red and swatted the prefect at his arm. "Shut up!"

\-------------------------------------------------------------

They were back at the kotatsu again after having late dinner, continuing their movie marathon. Hibari refused to let Ryuuichi go as they went back to their original position, Ryuuichi sitting on his lap, much to the younger's chagrin. (And yet, Ryuuichi allowed Hibari to hold him. If he didn't like it, he would have already push Hibari away. He could, but he wouldn't. Secretly, he liked their position.) "The way Watson twitch is kind of weird, and amazing."

"And the way you say 'Watson' is rather amusing." Ryuuichi rolled his eyes. "So the name is slightly British accented, but it's nice. I like the name."

"More than mine?" Hibari nuzzled at the crook of his neck. Ryuuichi squeaked, feeling a small kiss planted on his neck. "Hey, say my name, Ryuuichi." He shuddered and elbowed the prefect on the stomach.

"Stop that."

"Stop what exactly, Ryuuichi." He huffed shakily. Hibari definitely knew what he was talking about. That damn prefect. Ryuuichi pouted. "Stop saying my name like that.." He reached behind and pulled Hibari's hair slightly, trying to make his point through. "Then say my name." Hibari coaxed.

His hands shifted slightly, feeling another shiver from the other. "Say it." He looked into those dark brown orbs.

Ryuuichi bit his lips slightly. He didn't like how Hibari was able to make him blush. He felt like he had blushed for the average amount of ten years in the span of one, courtesy of the prefect's teases and all. "Don't tickle me-" He hitched a breath when he felt the bare hands on his skin. 'Goddammit!'

"K-Kyou-" A loud explosion interrupted him. They blinked in surprise and looked at the clock on the laptop. It was already midnight, another year. "Oh. Happy New Year." Hibari greeted back, kissing him on the lips. Ryuuichi leaned away slightly, feeling like he was over heating.

He looked away slightly and leaned forward to peck Hibari on the lips. He quickly turned away. "P-please take care of me for this year as well." 'And the next, and the next, and forever.' Hibari's eyes were wide in surprise. It was the first time Ryuuichi initiate a kiss. His eyes soften as he hugged him tighter.

"Likewise, Ryuuichi." 'Forever.' Ryuuichi smiled.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAYY!! 9.5K and I'm dead! And really really long chapter!
> 
> I'm sorry, I said that I would write about the characters' profile first, but.. *shake head* 
> 
> This chapter is mostly about Hibari and Ryuuichi, I guess? Since all of you wanted HibaRyuu fluff. And yep. 1861. I'm not even sorry. XD [Current me= On Wattpad, I've declared that Ryuuichi's shorthand is 61. Idk why but ya.]
> 
> The first part is on Winter, second on Spring, third on Summer, fourth on Autumn and last on Winter again. This is on purpose, I swear. The kotatsu part is long partly because I've delayed it for too long. Sorry!
> 
> Fun Fact= The day Sakura and Kei knew that they're dating, Sakura had gave him a spare set of house key and the key to Ryuuichi's room. Sneaky nice Sakura.
> 
> Fact= Fartlek is a system of training in which the terrain and pace are continually varied to eliminate boredom and enhance psychological aspects of conditioning [Google]. And it's done on uneven ground unlike the track field.
> 
> Reborn is a damn spartan that we all love. No point denying.
> 
> I felt like people would misunderstand this because of the word 'Sight' but Ryuuichi can't see the future. He's a recorder. *deadpan*  
> 
> Fun Fact= Sakura once almost ended up in the Yakuza. Kei stopped him. Said Yakuza is the Hibari. Hibari Mamoru is the second in line for the leader position, and no, he wasn't going to let Hibari join the Yakuza. He never wanted to. Yue is Fon younger sister. Imagine a female Fon. Yeah.
> 
> Fun Fact= The animal kingdom metaphor Hibari uses are from neither of his parents but the documentary channel. Really. He looked just like his mother, but the personality of his father.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi cannot stand horror movies or comics. He can read the stories, somehow, but he wouldn't like it much. Not really. Depending on what kind of book. But still, he hate horror movies.
> 
> [Below this are questions that a few people had asked on Wattpad and I feel I shouldn't delete it so here.]
> 
> -Did Amemori also died in the previous world before he was brought over to KHR? And how?= Well, Amemori did die in the previous world; set as never existed. It's a similar process as Ryuuichi's, only, Ryuuichi's transference is set by Death God, not Caelum. Amemori's brought to KHR world by Caelum with the help of Death God. They can't have anyone who belongs to the other world be left in the one they don't belong. Or something like that.
> 
> -TYL!Tsuna. How long did Reborn's 'training' last?= TYL!Tsuna: Umm.. About seven? He extended my training for three years after I took up the position. He's now my adviser. I still can't believe that he actually accepted my request. *laugh nervously*
> 
> -What's Ryuuichi's favourite fruit?
> 
> Ryuuichi: Umm, I like a lot of fruits, but the most is watermelon!
> 
> Yuuichi: Really, he could eat half of that fruit without batting an eye.
> 
> Ryuuichi: Says the one who can drink a carton of apple juice at one go.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	77. Discoveries

Ryuuichi and Yuuichi were having a cold war, Gokudera realized. It wasn't that obvious since they were still talking, but the way they interacted and reacted when near each other was so  _cold._  They were having lunch together at the rooftop with Tsuna and Yamamoto, sitting in a circle as usual. What unusual was, despite sitting next to each other, the twin wasn't talking nor looking at each other at all. Not even a glance.

Gokudera didn't really understand since while he and his sister fought before, it was quick to come, quick to go unless it involved their parents, which was rare. He wasn't aware that the twins were capable of fighting against each other, seeing how close they both were. That, and Ryuuichi wasn't one to fight, verbally, that is. (There wasn't any injuries or bruises on the twins, so he deducted that they fought verbally.)

Tsuna and Yamamoto noticed as well, as they all sat in awkward silence, each eating their own food.

Gokudera leaned over to Yamamoto and whispered. "What the hell is going on?"

Yamamoto jerked a bit, worried. "I'm not sure. This is the first time I see them like this." He whispered back. Gokudera raised an eyebrow. Even Yamamoto didn't know. They both glanced at the brunette, who shook his head as well. The sixteen years old Ryuuichi huffed, closing his bento.

"Thanks for the food."

Yuuichi hummed briefly and coldly. The trio sweated. Yamamoto couldn't stand the tense atmosphere anymore. "U-um." The twins turned to him almost immediately, making him even more nervous than he already was.

"Something happened?"

Ryuuichi furrowed his eyebrows, finally noticing how the three were uncomfortable. Yuuichi noticed as well. They both sighed in unison. (It freaked Tsuna and Gokudera a little. How was the twin able to do that? Yamamoto seemed to be immune to it however.) Ryuuichi leaned back, his hands supporting his weight as he loosen himself.

It wasn't a war, nor a fight. Not exactly. The previous night, days after their parents went to Italy for work, Yuuichi had suddenly told him that he wanted to be in the mafia and wanted to train. Of course, Ryuuichi refused to let him. Ryuuichi didn't want his brother to be involved, despite Yuuichi already was, and he tried to persuade him not to.

But Yuuichi was adamant about his thoughts. Which then, led to an argument.

He was already tired of it, fighting with his brother. They rarely fight, but that doesn't mean they never fought. Though, most of the time one of them would gave in after a few hours. This, was different. None of them wanted to give in. Ryuuichi could feel his own restrain killing him, yet he refused to let it go.

"Ask him." He said curtly, looking away.

Yuuichi placed his chopstick down, his lips tugged down and scowling. "Why don't you say it?" Ryuuichi mirrored his scowl as he turned to him. "You started it." Yuuichi clicked his tongue. He closed his bento box and placed it aside. "I'm joining the mafia."

The other three blankly looked at him before Tsuna suddenly exploded. "W-what?!"

"I. Am. Joining. The. Mafia."

Gokudera frowned. "This is not a game, Yuuichi." He jolted back when Yuuichi shot him a cold glare. "Of course I know." Of course Yuuichi do. He had thought about it for almost a  _year_. He knew of the risk, of the chance of death, but he still wanted to.

"And if you knew, why don't you just give up." Ryuuichi bit out. Yuuichi twitched, a vein popped. "I'm not going to." Somehow, Ryuuichi lost his composure. "You haven't seen everything, Yuuichi. It's not a place for you. You  _cannot_!" And Yuuichi lost his.

"I can! I know there's more, and I know it's dark and may not be my place, but I want to! Are you underestimating me?!"

"Goddammit I'm not! It isn't something that easy you know?! You have a great path ahead, and why are you trying to stray away from it?!" They continued to shout at each other as Tsuna and his two best friend stared with wide eyes. It was surprising, that they were actually fighting in front of them, and Yuuichi. Even them, they haven't seen the darker side of the mafia, haven't experience it, but they knew exactly why Ryuuichi was trying to get his brother to throw that thought away.

It was too dangerous. Tsuna decided to try and stop them both and discuss it properly. "Yuuichi-"

"Just so you can leave me behind?! Just so  _all of you_  can leave me?!" Tsuna's mouth slammed shut, as Ryuuichi stared with wide eyes at Yuuichi's words. "All of you, including mom and dad, are  _in the bloody mafia_. I know  _nothing_. I know not of the suffering, not of the darkness, not of anything at all! You know how painful it is to see all of you like that when I can't do  _anything_  at all?! Do you know how useless I felt?! This isn't a thing that I've thought up overnight, Ryuuichi. I had been thinking about this over a  _year_!"

Ryuuichi scowled and stayed silent. He breathed in and looked away from his brother as Yuuichi calmed himself down after that outburst, sniffling slightly. The others stayed silent as well, looking absolutely awkward. They hadn't expect that at all. Yuuichi was always cheery despite of things, so it left them speechless.

Ryuuichi knew of what his brother had been feeling. Yuuichi could hide them from their parents, could hide them from their friends, but he couldn't hide it from him. Ryuuichi wasn't Yuuichi's brother for nothing. Their bond wasn't steel and tight for nothing. Just as how his brother could see through him easily, he could do it just as much as well. It left him feeling guilty. He really didn't want him to go into the darkness.

Yuuichi has his whole life ahead of him, he didn't want him to regret anything and leave it just because of them. Ryuuichi hated it, for bringing his brother into the mafia. He would hate himself more if he let Yuuichi join. But..

He sighed and turned back to Yuuichi, who was rubbing his eyes. He looked into his twin's eyes. "Do you have the strength? Do you have the resolve? To live in the darkness and to fight, to maim and to kill? Do you have it in you to throw your morals away for the sake of it?"

Yuuichi's eyes harder, fire flashing in them as they clashed with Ryuuichi's blank ones. "I do."

Ryuuichi stared a little longer, finding if there was any waver, anything that indicated that Yuuichi wasn't ready. There was none. He let out another sigh, in resignation and exasperation. "Fine." Yuuichi's eyes widen. "It's your life. Even as a brother, I can't control what you want, what you do, and which path you take. This is your choice. However,"

He was back with the fierce, stern look. "Remember well that the mafia is not a safe place. Live with your resolve, live because of it. Never let your resolve falter. Understand?"

Yuuichi nodded, a determine smile on. "I will." Ryuuichi snorted as his face soften, a wry smile on. Yuuichi grinned and jumped onto his brother, hugging tightly.

Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto stayed awkward as they tried to register what happened.  _Everything happened too fast for their minds to catch up._

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When both parents met, it was a coincidence. Kei and Sakura were having a stroll on the land of Switzerland, just finishing a job earlier than expected when they bumped into Mamoru and Yue. And it started off with the two women squealing and pulling each other into a hug while Kei and Mamoru stared at each other.

"Long time no see, Sakura! How are you?" Yue released the hug with a bright grin on her face. Sakura was grinning just as brightly. "Great! You?"

"Awesome."

They immediately chattered, catching up on everything as Mamoru nodded at Kei. "Good to see you again." Kei had a sardonic smile on. "Yeah. Still in the Yakuza?"

Mamoru shrugged. "Of course. You're still in the mafia, are you not?" They locked into a staring competition before Kei bursting out into laughter. "I can't believe that you haven't change much at all."

"I could say the same to you, Kei." Mamoru smiled slightly.

"Sakura, did you know that our sons are dating?" Sakura nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! I can't believe how things works!" Yue agreed, before she suddenly shot Kei a sharp look. "It's quite unexpected, isn't it?"

Kei twitched. 'She still have a grudge on me?' "It is. I had almost forgotten that the both of you are Hibari-kun's parents since we haven't met for  _twenty two years_." A small spark of electricity crackled as they engaged into a staring contest. Mamoru and Sakura exchanged an exasperated glance and interfered.

Sakura grabbed Yue's arms and pulled her to a cafe. "Let's chat while we have tea~"

Mamoru shook his head and followed, Kei walking beside him in silence.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first time Ryuuichi stepped a foot on Italy, was also the first time he joined Reborn on a hit. The seventeen years old teen looked at his surroundings in awe. Everything looked so, ancient. It was amazing, in another words. While Japan is one of a kind, Europe is another kind. He felt that he was brought back to the olden days.

Yet not, since he had never traveled before, so he wasn't sure about it. (Much later on, he would laughed at his own thoughts after having to travel to half of the world.)

"Stop gawking like a bird and come on." He pouted and quickly followed the hitman. Reborn, being physically fourteen, was quite tall. Really. Ryuuichi couldn't help but be sour at that. "So where are we going?"

"My condo." He blinked. "Your condo?"

Reborn nodded, pulling his fedora down slightly. Ryuuichi pried no more about it and changed the subject. "So what's the job?" They walked down a secluded alley, the sunlight blocked slightly by the building. It looked as though they were going to be dead here, but it wasn't as though anyone would dare to target them.

"We'll participate a masquerade tonight and kill this woman." He blinked, slightly taken aback. "Woman?" Reborn handed him a picture. Ryuuichi sweated as he looked at the picture. The woman in the picture was slightly plump, and with thick make-up. She probably wears thick perfume. Ryuuichi just  _knew_  it. "She's the owner of the Milie Inc.. Her rivaling partner has paid us to kill her."

That didn't sit well with Ryuuichi. While the client's request is the priority, but killing someone innocent, Ryuuichi didn't like it. More so when it was a woman. Reborn, as though had read his mind, sighed inaudibly. Not out of exasperation, but out of the same sentimental. But he wasn't the strongest hitman for nothing.

They would just have to get over it when they were done.

"If it makes you feel any better, she's charged with several abuse to her workers and housemaids, and is actually a suspect of money laundering. And she's the patron of a few mafiosi."

Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow. "And our client is involved in money laundering as well..?"

Reborn smirked. "Of course he is. Money laundering is mostly why big companies are able to rise. Although there  _are_  some that doesn't do it." He leaded them down another corner to a quieter street, and into a building. Ryuuichi looked at the old, but rather cozy looking place, liking it immediately.

Reborn shook his head slightly at his apprentice and walked to his place, unlocking the door. Ryuuichi trotted in after him as the door clicked shut behind him. He blinked at the wall beside the shoe rack, pictures of people and pin on each one's head. He sweated at the amount of it.

"That's not all of it." Reborn added as he walked to the window, pulling the curtains apart and let the dust flew. He hadn't been back here for years after the curse, leaving everything behind to start anew. Now that it was broken, Reborn felt that he could slowly accept it.

Everything felt nostalgic, and yet, he didn't want to go back to it. "Go get some rest. It'll be a long night."

\------------------------------------------------------

The masquerade was extravagant. Too extravagant for Ryuuichi's liking. He was wearing a black mask that covered both of his eyes and the right side of his face, while Reborn was wearing a similar white one that covered the left side of his face. It contradicted with them, somehow, but they didn't care.

Ryuuichi's hair was tied up into a really high pony tail, his bangs slicked back. He was feeling uncomfortable with the black suit he was wearing. He never really liked suits, but he supposed that he should really get used to it. Reborn, on the other hand, looked especially handsome despite that his face was covered. His fedora was forgone, Leon in his chest pocket to disguise as the one that created the gun-shaped bulge.

Though, it wasn't as though anyone could see through it, their jackets were specially made to hide the gun from being noticed. Which was why Reborn and Ryuuichi made through the electronic sensor from the securities.

Ryuuichi was standing beside the window, watching the guests mingle and dance to the slow, soothing music. Everyone was chatting quietly, even Reborn, who was at the opposite of the ballroom. Ryuuichi had never been to a ball or masquerade before, so he had no idea what to do. That, and everyone was strangers. He wasn't good with talking to strangers.

" _Excuse me_." He turned to the woman that suddenly approached him. He blinked, immediately recognizing who it was despite the huge purple mask. " _Would you like to dance?_ " He took a peek at Reborn, who nodded at him, only minuscule. He turned back to the woman and flashed a business smile. " _Of course_." He raised his arm for the woman and led her to the dance floor, immediately swaying to the tempo of the song. (Briefly, he mentally thanked Reborn for the lessons or he wouldn't know what he was doing.)

She had her hand on his shoulder as he held onto her right hand, slowly moving. From how close they were, he could really smell the perfume from her. He had to force himself not to outright lean away and carefully tried not to step on her feet.

" _You're quite a dancer, aren't you?_ " The woman giggled. " _I've never seen you before. What's your name?_ "

" _Thank you, milady. It's my first time participating a ball._ " He then smiled brightly again. " _I'm afraid that I can't say, as this is a masquerade ball after all._ "

She wasn't the lest bit offended at all. Instead, she was amused and impressed. " _Charming. You're doing pretty well for a first timer, handsome._ "

Was.. Was she flirting with him?

" _I'm glad and flattered. I can't be grateful enough to be dancing with the prettiest woman in the room._ " He twirled her slightly and pulled her back, almost losing it when she held closer. 'Oh god..'

" _My, how sweet. Do you have time after the ball, handsome? I'd like to threat you to a late night dinner._ " 'And perhaps sex...' Ryuuichi paled internally at that thought. He quickly pushed that thought behind and smiled again. " _I would be honored, milady._ " The dance ended with Ryuuichi bowing slightly and pecking on her hand slightly. She giggled again and passed him a napkin with a number and a name on. She winked at him and walked away. " _I'll see you later~_ "

Once she was out of sight, Ryuuichi moved walked towards Reborn's direction and pocketed the napkin after folding it neatly. Reborn was smirking as he was in his earshot. "Aren't you a charmer?"

Ryuuichi shuddered, having to hold it back since the beginning. He quickly wiped his lips and stuck close to the hitman, but not too close to gather attention. "No thanks to you." At least Reborn smell much more nicer than her. "So what did she gave you?"

"... Her hotel and room number.." Reborn chortled and quickly stopped himself with a cough. He had this grin on that made Ryuuichi wanting to wipe it off with a punch. He leaned down slightly to Ryuuichi's height and gleefully teased. "Isn't that wonderful, someone wanting to bed you during your first masquerade ball."

Ryuuichi punched the hitman on the gut. Reborn merely chuckled slightly, as though it didn't hurt. Which it really didn't. Ryuuichi wasn't exactly serious about it. He huffed and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. "How are we going to do this?"

Reborn snickered once more and turned serious, a murderous smirk on. "You'll go find her." Ryuuichi frowned under his mask, but Reborn could see it. The hitman continued. "Since she invited you, there shouldn't be a problem with her guards. You'll have to open her window to let me in when she's in the bathroom."

"Um, I took a peek at the floor, it was on the tenth floor? How are you going to climb in through the window? And how are you sure that she would be going to the bathroom?"

His smirk turned feral. "Who do you think I am?" He snorted. "I'll climb in from the room next to her's. And her late night dinner meant by sex, which of course she needed to clean herself." Ryuuichi blinked at the explanation and groaned. "So she's the type to be interested in younger people. Of course." He rolled his eyes at himself and huffed.

Reborn raised an amused eyebrow at that. Surely, Ryuuichi doesn't react to anything that would make typical people blush unless it involves his boyfriend. Quite amusing. "If things doesn't go the way as expected, you'll be the one who will kill her, understand?"

Ryuuichi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah."

The hitman patted him on the back a few times in an unsteady tempo. "Good luck, kid."

"Stop calling me kid. I'm only younger than you by  _8_."

"Still a kid" Reborn smirked and walked away, proceeding to mingle with boring people and diss their boring life internally.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi knocked on the door a few times. His gun was still in the hostler, and he had a dagger as a back up if anything goes wrong. He silently hoped not, as he braced himself for what was going to come. The door swung open and the plump lady was without her mask, clad in nothing but a white bathrobe.

Ryuuichi refrained himself to scowl.

" _You're finally here. I thought you aren't going to come._ " She said in a sickly sweet tone. Ryuuichi pushed down his discomfort. " _My apologies, milady._ " He took her hand and pecked at it again. " _I met a group of thugs on my way here_."

" _Oh my. Are you alright then?_ " He smiled. " _Yes. A bit ruffled, but dandy. Thank you for your concern._ " She giggled and let him in, the door clicking shut behind him. " _Well, handsome, can you tell me your name and perhaps, take off your mask?_ "

" _Luka is what they call me. I was thinking perhaps, milady could do the honor to take it off?_ " She smiled at that. Pressing flush against Ryuuichi, she literally purred. " _I'm Rose, Luka. Of course, I'd be delighted to take it off._ " She placed her pointer finger on Ryuuichi's lips, looking up with a seductive look as she was shorter than him.

" _But let me take a shower first, okay?_ " He nodded, still smiling. " _Please, take your time_."

She winked at him and sauntered into the bathroom, the door closing but it wasn't lock. Ryuuichi let out a breath and waited for the sound of water. When he heard it, he silently walked to the window, the only window of the room, and opened it. Or, he was about to when a group of men popped out of the closet,  _and_  the bathroom.

'Ahh...' He sighed internally as multiple guns were pointed at him. Rose came out, looking absolutely smug as though she just heard the most embarrassing scandal of her rivals. " _Luka, Luka._ " She said in a chiding tone, arms crossed over her chest. " _I'm disappointed. I was expecting so much from you._ "

Ryuuichi shrugged. " _I don't meet expectation._ " She walked towards him, not the slightest bit worried that she might just get killed. Confident, wasn't she? Too confident, as the matter of fact. She brushed her finger against his left cheek gently like she was touching the most fragile thing in the world.

" _How foolish. Do you really think that I would invite anyone to my room just like that, dearest Luka? Or should I say, mister hitman._ " She grasped his cheeks tightly, her long nails digging into his flesh and causing it to bleed slightly. He chuckled lowly, Rose frowned. " _Hitman? Well, you're not wrong, but,_ "

He gripped her wrist and put up a cloud shield around the both of them, gun shots was heard but not seen as it was opaque. He leaned down slightly and whispered. " _I'm not the only one here_."

She blanched and tried to stab him with a knife she took out of her robe with her other hand, but Ryuuichi deflected that attack as though it was nothing. He grabbed both her wrists tightly as the knife clattered onto the ground. The gun shots were loud, but it soon died down. Two, uneven rap on the shield was heard and Ryuuichi took down the shield.

Reborn stood there, mask still on but his fedora was with him again, a smoking gun in hand. The guards that previously stood strong had all fallen, some dead with headshots and some right on the heart. The beige colored wall was tainted with bright red splattering across it carelessly.

" _W-what?!_ " The woman paled as she tried to pull away from Ryuuichi's grip. Ryuuichi's lips were pulled thin. " _I think it's quite stupid of you trying to approach me like that when you've no idea who was your opponent._ " He silently said, letting her go. She quickly jumped away, creating a distance between the two and her. She picked up the knife and clasped it with both her hands in front of her, shaking.

" _And it's stupid of you to think that placing a hearing bug on me_." He took out a device from his pocket, which shaped of a small lady bug and crushed it, small electrical components falling out. He bowed once as Reborn aimed his gun at her. " _Our condolences._ "

A silent gunshot echoed in the silent room as the once alive woman fell lifelessly on the ground, a bullet to the brain. Reborn clicked back the safety and placed the gun back onto the hostler, smirking. "Good job. Though,  _our_  condolences?"

Ryuuichi shrugged, rubbing his cheek. He really need a long shower. "Can't I? I'm not really regretting it like I thought I would, but still." Reborn took noticed of how uncomfortable he was and pulled him into a side-way hug. While he wasn't much of a touchy person, he could stand it with his apprentice. After all, physical touches are sometimes the greatest secret code.

"Let's go." He ruffled his hair as they walked out of the bloodied room, stepping over the corpse and eliciting a whine from Ryuuichi as his hair was messed up.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Dino had been busy with his work, no joke. He had been trying to finish it but it just increases whenever he deemed he was done with a pile. Were they trying to keep him from visiting his little brothers, or what? And god, was he exhausted.

He was  _finally_  finished with the last stack of paperworks and other things, silently thanking whoever up there for their generosity. He yawned as he headed to his bed room, wanting to take a quick bath before going to sleep. He pushed open the door too see two lumps of human on his very large bed, under the duvet.

Before he could even take his whip out at the intruders, a bullet grazed his cheek and hit the door, the door creaking shut at the impact. He finally saw the tuft of familiar black hair and the gun pointing at him. The other lump remained dead, only the slow, steady rises of the chest indicating life. "You have the gall to disturb us, pipsqueak-Dino?"

He jolted in surprise at that. "R-Reborn!? What are you-" Another bullet whizzed past him. "Shut up." And Reborn went back to sleep, arms draping across Ryuuichi's being and brought him closer to his bare chest. Cuddles are nice. And Ryuuichi gives good cuddles. He could tell why Hibari couldn't take his hands off him. (Which reminded him; shove tonight's cuddle into Hibari's face when they get back to Namimori.)

Dino remained frozen by the door, scared to wake the equivalent of Satan up and very confused.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saying that Ryuuichi hate horror movie was actually an understatement. He was bloody terrified of it. He didn't know if they were trying to play with him or what, but all of them, including his own brother, voted for horror movie for the movie marathon night slash sleepover at his house. It was only him, Tsuna and Enma who didn't want it.

He tried to sneak away even after Tsuna and Enma gave up on escaping from Yamamoto's clutches, but Hibari just had to stop him. Reborn literally barricaded the door with wire nets that would electrocute whoever tries to run away, successfully trapping everyone including Reborn himself in the living room.

Dino wasn't much of a help when he tried to help him escape after seeing his terrified look.

The girls set themselves by the corner, a bowl of popcorn with them with a thick blanket over all of them. Gokudera, Yamamoto, Enma and Tsuna took the middle with the two shortest in between them as they leaned against the longest sofa in the room. Reborn lounged on the sofa with Dino, who was a bit battered. The popcorn was with Tsuna and Enma, in the hitman and the blonde's reach.

Yuuichi set himself on the two seater, totally relaxed while Ryohei placed himself between the girls and the boys. Mukuro was beside Amemori on the other corner, the former smirking. Ryuuichi, on the other hand, was locked in Hibari's arms on the recliner opposite of, him sitting on Hibari's lap.

"Let me go!" He plead, trying to get the nineteen years old prefect to release him. (The others ignore them as Yuuichi played the video.) Ryuuichi flinched at the creepy theme song of the movie and immediately shut his eyes and covered his ears. He resigned to his fate and decided to just deal with it since Hibari wasn't letting him go anytime soon.

But he could still hear the sound from the movie. Hibari pulled him closer, his back against his chest and whispered silently. "Don't worry. Everything will be alright." Ryuuichi twitched at that but still refused to open his eyes. The last time he did, which was years ago, he was jumpscared by the sudden appearance of a ghost on the television.

Hibari gently tugged his hands down and rubbed his hands reassuringly, coaxing him to open his eyes. Ryuuichi shook his head, flinching at the soundtrack again. God, was that creepy.

"Come on. Open your eyes." Ryuuichi hissed at him. "I'm so going to kill every single one of you when this is over." He, hesitatingly cracked an eye open to the screen, sighing in relief when there wasn't anything except for a group of people. He swatted Hibari slightly when he placed a peck on his cheek, hands clutching onto Hibari's. Worse case scenario, he breaks them.

And so he gave into it and watched the movie, regretting it as everything got worse as each second passed. Half an hour through the movie, a jumpscare happened. Some of them screamed a little, but Ryuuichi remained silent, his voice stuck on as he paled at it. He jumped, definitely, and was mourning for himself.

He couldn't take it anymore. He patted at Hibari's hands, silently telling him to loosen his grip. Hibari took his eyes off the screen and peered at Ryuuichi, who was really pale. He loosen his grip on Ryuuichi's waist. Ryuuichi, upon feeling that, immediately whirled around to face Hibari instead and held onto him, burying his face onto his neck and tried to drown the sound out.

Hibari blinked in surprise. Of course he knew Ryuuichi hate horror movies, but not to the point of can't handling it even when it wasn't halfway through. Then again, this was Ryuuichi he was talking about. He smiled, chuckling slightly and held Ryuuichi closer. He resumed his attention to the movie, drawing little circles on Ryuuichi's back to calm him down.

It wasn't such a bad idea after all, joining them for the movie night. He was able to see another side of Ryuuichi after all.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had fallen asleep sometime during the movie, his breathing even out as he held onto Hibari. Hibari didn't mind that, as he continued to watch the movie. About three hours of horror movie, they decided to call it a night since some of them had fallen asleep as well. Reborn took down the net as they sprawled out on the ground, sleeping on the extra futons they had. Yuuichi went back to his room after they settled down.

Hibari carried Ryuuichi up, the teen clinging onto him like a koala and went to his room. Just as he set the teen onto the bed after finally detaching him from himself and wanted to head to the toilet, he heard a brief whimper. He frowned slightly and sat on the side of the bed, brushing Ryuuichi's hair slightly.

Ryuuichi's eyes snapped open. They were flashing slightly in panic, but it died down awhile after he noticed Hibari. "Nightmare?" Ryuuichi scrunched up his nose, eyes threatening to shut close but he kept it open, looking at the other. "Not really." He said softly, tired and slightly breathy.

It was a weird dream, but it was weird enough to unsettle him. He never liked weird dreams, despite having it for a lot of times. They never make sense, and he couldn't stand him. Hibari nodded. "Wait here."

And he walked out of the room. Ryuuichi slowly sat up and leaned against the bed frame, pulling the Hibird plushy into his arms. He yawned, forcing himself to stay awake. He could always go back to sleep later, but not after he get rid of the weird dream out of his memories.

He twitched, suddenly feeling crept out by the fact that his room was dark and he was alone. He huffed, burying his face into the plushy. 'This is why I hate horror movie...' He frowned and impatiently waited for Hibari to come back. The prefect wasn't gone for long, but he felt like it had been years.

The door swung open slightly and closed. Hibari sat down beside Ryuuichi and handed him a cup of warm water. "Drink. You haven't drink anything at all since dinner."

Ryuuichi took the cup into his hands, relaxing at the other's presence. It was always funny how people was scared at Hibari's presence, or a mere glance of him, when Ryuuichi found himself at peace with him. Things sure work in a strange way. He took slow sips of the water, well aware that Hibari was staring at him. (For the three years they have been together, he still couldn't understand why Hibari likes to stare at him so much.)

When he was done, Hibari took the cup and placed it on the night stand. Hibari leaned in, placing a peck on Ryuuichi's forehead. He shifted closer and cupped Ryuuichi's cheek. He pulled Ryuuichi into a passionate kiss, their tongue lapping slightly. It was a bit lazy and messy, but they didn't care, merely taking everything in.

Hibari pulled apart, breathing in. "Better?" Ryuuichi's cheeks was flushed, and although it was dark, Hibari could see them. Ryuuichi nodded slowly. Hibari smiled and leaned his forehead against Ryuuichi's. "I love you, Ryuuichi."

Ryuuichi blushed even more, but had a small, happy grin on. "I love you too, Kyouya."

That night, they slept soundly in each other's arms, dreamless but contented.

(They couldn't help but fall deeper for each other, and couldn't help but yearn for each other's presence whenever they're separated.)

\-----------------------------------------------------

A twitch. "Mukuro, please stop with your illusions or I  _swear to god_ , I'll pluck your pineapple hair out."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was summer again, and another day of Ryuuichi trying not to die because of the heat. The noises were so deafening, with the children shrieking and shouting and laughing, the chatters of the rest, and the loud wave crashes. It was so noisy. Adding with the heat, he couldn't take it.

They were all at the beach, courtesy of Reborn. Ryuuichi had given up all logic with Reborn's reason when he dragged him here. His brother and the others were playing around, swimming, building sandcastle, surfing, collecting shells and, volleyball? Yeah, volleyball. He stayed under the shade with a sunglasses on. His hair was tied up high into a messy bun as Ryuuichi couldn't stand it sticking against his skin, wearing a thin, blue shirt with a black knee-length shorts and sandals.

He squinted his eyes at them through the sunglasses, could briefly see the invisible waves of heat emitting from the sand. He huffed, not going to go out of the shade anytime soon lest he die of heat . But Reborn had another idea.

The hitman suddenly, appeared behind him and manhandled him out to the glaring sun easily. "Relax and have some fun." He smirked.

Ryuuichi struggled and threaten to pull Reborn's sideburns out but the hitman paid no heed to his threats, literally dumping him onto the sand. He growled at him, trying to run back to the shade only to jump back to avoid a right hook from him. "You wanted to spar? Here?!"

Reborn's smirk was still on. "You scared?"

Ryuuichi twitched. He toed off his sandals and threw it near their spots where Nana was sitting along with the sunglasses. He fell into a stance as they immediately started sparring. If he wasn't that annoyed with the heat, he wouldn't participate, but well, heat was getting to him. His toe curled on the sand to get a grip as he duck down to dodge another punch, leaping back to avoid the kick.

Curling up his hands, he aimed a punch to Reborn's side, which the hitman dodged with ease and grabbed Reborn's wrist. Instantly, Reborn pulled him closer and  _flipped_ him. He instinctively did a 360 degrees turn and landed on his two feet behind Reborn, rolling aside immediately as a sweep was aimed to his head.

Tsuna, who was in the water with Yamamoto and Gokudera, sweated upon seeing them sparring on the sand. Their pace was fast, so fast that he almost couldn't catch up with anything at all. He almost didn't register it when Ryuuichi landed on his back with a groan as Reborn had a hand on his throat.

"Don't let the heat deter you, Ryuuichi." Reborn said in a serious manner. Ryuuichi, who was panting, grunted. He grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at Reborn's face. Reborn jumped back to avoid it as Ryuuichi rolled up and away from the hitman. Reborn nodded in approval of how he made used of whatever is around him.

Leon crawled to his hand and changed into a gun. "Die." Ryuuichi's eyes widen as he pulled the trigger.

A splurt of water hit the teen in the face as he ran away from the hitman. Ryuuichi squeaked loudly. "Dammit, stop!" Reborn chased after him, still hitting him with water. "Never."

Tsuna did a double take and slipped into the water.

\-----------------------------------------------------

"Thank you." Ryuuichi smiled at Yuuichi as he took the towel from him, wiping his face. Yuuichi chuckled and sat beside him on the sand. "Must be hard to have Reborn as a mentor, huh."

Ryuuichi grunted, shaking his head frantically to shake off the sand and water. "I could say the same to you." He slung the towel around his neck and sighed, feeling tired after running around for so long under the sun. It was fortunate that a large piece of cloud covered up the sun, or he might collapse.

"At least Lal and Col aren't  _that_  harsh."

"You better not let them hear that or they'll increase your training." Yuuichi snickered and nodded. Ryuuichi huffed, a smile on his face. When they found out that Yuuichi was a Rain, Lal and Colonello immediately became his mentors on various things. Colonello, specifically on long distance shooting and Lal on strategics since Yuuichi was gifted on both aspect. Let's just say, him and Lal got along on bullying Colonello.

They stayed in silence as they watched Lambo running away from I-Pin and Fuuta, each holding a water gun in hand. It was comfortable, Ryuuichi found himself smiling even more, finally remembering why he likes summer. Hibird suddenly came in view, chirping as the yellow bird landed on his knees.

"Small animal. Small animal." Ryuuichi blinked, brushing a finger on the fluffy bird. "Something wrong?" Hibird chirped loudly once. "Hibari. Cave." Yuuichi gave Ryuuichi a teasing look, a smirk on his face as Ryuuichi shoved him slightly.

"Okay." He patted Yuuichi on the back slightly and stood up. Hibird jumped and landed on Yuuichi's knees instead. "I'll see you later." Yuuichi gave him a thumbs up as he slow jogged to the more secluded part of the beach.

'Cave? Really? Why is there a cave here-' His eyes widen upon seeing a small opening under a cliff and jogged over. He hummed, finding that this part was cooler, and more peaceful. Seemed to be a bit lonely, but it was nice. He slowed down and walked into the cave carefully as it was near the water. His eyes widen in awe at how it beautiful it was. Seeing at how the structure and the color of the walls was, he suspected that it would be half submerged in water when it was high tide, since it was on low land.

The wall was sparkling slightly at the reflection of the sea water, the sound of waves echoing softly in a soothing tune. Ryuuichi was amazed.

"Insects are going to fly into your mouth if you don't close them anytime soon." He turned to Hibari, who was sitting on a boulder and pouted, closing . The pout didn't last as he couldn't stop the grin from forming. "How did you find this place? It's gorgeous." He walked over, staring at the walls.

"The little one did." He hummed. Wouldn't be surprising somehow, but still, amazing. "So what are you doing here, isolating yourself from society?" He sat down beside Hibari. Hibari arched an eyebrow at him, seemly amused as he rolled his eyes. Ryuuichi looked at the ground instead, cold and damp.

He tilted his head when he saw a seashell on the sand and picked it up. It was quite big sized, nice and unbroken. He hummed, turning it over slightly before placing it back down and picked up another one.

Hibari stared at him as he did. He reached over and tugged the younger onto his lap, Ryuuichi straddling him. Ryuuichi blinked in surprise but settled on Hibari's lap without complain, his hands over Hibari's shoulder. Hibari had his hands holding on Ryuuichi's back, gazing into those dark brown orbs.

He leaned in and captured Ryuuichi's lips. He bit softly at the lower lip, coaxing the other to open and slipped his tongue in. He heard the other making a soft noise as his hands strayed, one slipping into Ryuuichi's shirt as the other traveled down to his leg.

He brushed against the thigh, rubbing slightly before moving lower to the calf, feeling the muscle tensing slightly and loosen. He felt Ryuuichi's arms tightening around his neck as they broke off, lips millimeters apart as they panted slightly. He dived back to the kiss after a second, rubbing his hand against the back. He pressed hard on the cervical spine, eliciting a soft groan as he moved it down, brushing the spine along the way to the end.

He removed his other hand from the calf and brushed up Ryuuichi's torso, feeling the body shivering slightly at his touch. Ryuuichi pulled off from the kiss, staring heatedly into Hibari's eyes. His breath hitched when he felt the hands brushing against a weak spot of his before they settled on his hips.

Ryuuichi huffed slightly as he thread his fingers into Hibari's hair. "What's wrong?" Hibari murmured as he kissed on the jaw, moving to the collarbone and bit it softly. Ryuuichi gasped at that and shook his head slightly. "No.. I just realized how much I love you.."

Hibari smiled against the skin and it softly. He leaned back up and pulled Ryuuichi back into another breathless kiss. "I love you too."

The seventeen years old teen returned the kiss just as hard.

\------------------------------------------------------

Amemori, who was swimming around, swam to where the cave was. He didn't notice that there was a cave and was about to venture in when he heard a soft groan, and saw a glimpse of two humans. He blushed and hightailed out of there. He swam towards Yuuichi and slammed into him as Yuuichi laughed at him.

"Why didn't you tell me that they were there?!"

Ryuuichi broke off the kiss upon hearing loud splashes of water. Hibari didn't even care and just pulled him back.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dino's face was flaming and red when Ryuuichi, a rather drunk one, crawled into his large sweater and stayed there. His head popped out from the collar as he lean against Dino's chest, humming and fell asleep. The teen had caught a cold when he was visiting,  _again_. The last time he did, which was last year, he was damn cranky and short tempered, sulking in his room.

And now, he turned into the drunk one. Dino had took two months away from Italy to guide and teach Ryuuichi on the things he needed to be aware off when it comes to dealing with mafiosi, most on the paperworks and stuff. Ryuuichi was the one who plead him for this since it's about three months away before Ryuuichi decided to declare the forming of Giudizio to public (Mafiosi only), and when he did managed to fly to Namimori, he found a sick Ryuuichi.

He twitched as the teen purred against his bare chest. He sighed, ruffling his hair slightly. He would have to wait for Ryuuichi to get better. Leaning against the back rest of the recliner, he sweated. If Hibari was to find out about this, he probably would be killed. Yuuichi walked into the living room from the kitchen and blinked at the sight.

Dino gave him a small, nervous smile, completely stuck. The younger sighed in exasperation and walked closer. He patted Ryuuichi's head, trying to wake him up. Ryuuichi crack a half lidded eye open.

"Ryuu, go sleep in your bed." He frowned and turned away from Yuuichi, sticking to Dino. Dino flailed a little and gave up. "Did Kyouya gave him a habit of clinging onto people?"

Yuuichi shook his head and flopped onto the sofa at the other side. "No. He's not even clinging at all, actually." He sighed again. He raised an eyebrow when Dino squeaked a little. "What's wrong?"

"He's tickling me." Dino reached into his shirt from the bottom and pulled the hands away from his sides. Ryuuichi grunted slightly, but settled down, falling asleep again.

Dino groaned. "Kyouya is so going to kill me."

"I won't kill you." A familiar voice sounded behind him. He jolted slight, not enough to jostle Ryuuichi too much as he looked back. "Y-yo." He greeted nervously as Hibari grunted. The raven head walked nearer and leaned down slightly, touching Ryuuichi's bangs slightly.

Ryuuichi's eyes snapped open upon the touch and peered up at Hibari. A foreign glint flashed in his eyes and he, without a word, detached from Dino and pulled himself out of the blonde's sweater. Immediately, Hibari bent down just enough for the younger to curl his arms around his neck and hoisted him up.

He walked out of the living room, but paused for a moment to give Dino a side way glance. "I'll merely bite you to death."

Dino mourned for his own life as Yuuichi patted him on the shoulder.

\------------------------------------------------------

The next day when Ryuuichi was back to normal and all better, he saw a Dino with a bruise on his cheek. It was strangely shaped of a familiar cylinder. He yawned and flopped beside the blonde. Without a word, he hovered a hand over the cheek and used his sun flames to heal it.

"So I take you're well enough to not do anything weird?" Ryuuichi laughed briefly.

"Yep." Dino sighed in fond exasperation and shook his head. "Well then, shall we start with your lesson?" Ryuuichi wheezed out another laughter at how uncharacteristic Dino was and nodded. "Sure, but you'll have to bear with my antics."

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first time Yuuichi got into a relationship was during the summer of his third year of middle school. It was with a junior who was also the sister of his teammates. They started off when she suddenly confessed to him in summer camp, Yuuichi himself had a crush on her as well.

It was fine and all, until a month before his graduation.

Yuuichi at first had thought that he liked her romantically, hell even love her, but after months of being together, he realized that he took her as a younger sister somehow. He told her on the evening he was walking her home, and they broke up. It was rather clean, but it was painful. It hurt, for the both of them, but Yuuichi was sure that she was hurting even more.

When he was home, Ryuuichi was the one who greeted him by the door. He had an indifferent look on, but he had opened his arms for Yuuichi without a word. Yuuichi couldn't contain it anymore and he burst out crying as he ran into his brother's arms. He cried into his shoulders, soaking it with tears and snots and yet, Ryuuichi said nothing as he held him tight, silently telling him that he'll always be with him no matter what.

The second time was during their second year of high school, with a girl with long black hair and has an interest on flowers and hanakotoba. She was nice and fun, Yuuichi was happy, yet when she tried to have sex with him, he backed out. He didn't know why, but it unsettled him. He avoided every attempt she has on trying to get him to sleep with her, until the point she couldn't take it and openly mocked him.

Ryuuichi was there when she did. He had the same indifferent look on, silently waiting for her to finish her jabs towards Yuuichi. Yuuichi's hands clenched tightly, nails dug into his flesh as he looked down. He couldn't take it. Ryuuichi looked at him, as though asking if he was allowed to do anything for him. Yuuichi said nothing but his brother understood.

"Yui-san." Ryuuichi's voice was cold, and yet warm at the same time. It was weird, Yuuichi didn't know how he managed it. "Do you truly love my brother?"

Ryuuichi took a step forward, towering over her. She flinched. "O-of course!" He took another, she backed away. "Are you sure?" Forward, backward. "Because having sex means that you're willing to give everything to him," Forward, backward. "And take everything from him." Her back hit the wall as Ryuuichi slammed a hand beside her head, causing him to flinch.

No one, not even the girl's friends dared to stop him. Yuuichi's eyes were wide, glazed as he watched his brother, listening tentatively to what he was saying.

"To show your vulnerable side, and to take embrace the other's weak side." Ryuuichi's voice were low despite going through puberty and his voice actually was cracked. "It's not about forcing, nor is it about just doing it for the sake of it. Wanting to do it, means that you'll have to wait until the other is ready and to learn of your boundaries, not overstepping them unless permission is given."

He gave her a tight, sharp smile. "So tell me, do you truly love my brother?"

She broke down into tears, shaking her head frantically. Everyone was still frozen stiff. When she slid down onto the ground, Ryuuichi backed away, the smile dropped as he turned to Yuuichi. Yuuichi's eyes were still wide, he felt himself breaking down even more when Ryuuichi's eyes met his.

Wordlessly, Ryuuichi pulled him out of the room and as though the spell was lifted, the rest were finally able to move. He brought Yuuichi to the roof, and the moment the door closed, Yuuichi broke into tears. Ryuuichi simply pulled him close, silent promises of unconditional love and presence. Yuuichi felt so safe.

For four years, reaching five, Ryuuichi and Hibari's love were still strong, growing, even. Yuuichi never felt so jealous of someone before. He envied Hibari, and he was jealous of him, for having Ryuuichi's heart and soul. He, although has a place that Hibari could never replace, knew he could never complete his brother as how Hibari could.

He wondered endlessly if he would even find the right one. If there is any.

The month before they graduated high school, Amemori confessed to him. He and Amemori got along really well for a few years, and unknowingly fall for each other.

But Yuuichi hesitated. Amemori loved his brother. He didn't want to date him just because he was Ryuuichi's brother, and he looked like him. When he told Amemori that, Amemori immediately proved that he no longer hung onto his brother. Yuuichi was confused.

He accepted the confession on the day they graduated. On the same day, he came out as Bisexual, and Ryuuichi accepted.

It was the happiest time of Yuuichi's life, he realized, but he felt that there was something missing. Their relationship grew strong for a few months, until he had to fly to Italy. Amemori had stayed behind in Japan, studying Business in Japan. Yuuichi wavered of his choices, but he broke up with Amemori and followed his brother.

Ryuuichi said nothing of his choice.

The feeling lingered in his heart, almost forgotten as it was the busiest for the first three years, with only him and his brother managing the mansion given by Dino and their works. Giudizio slowly, but surely, rose in name and power. When they were 21, Xena, same age as they were and a Storm, joined them.

Things got slower, and a year after that, Liu Xie arrived, twenty four and a Lightning with Cloud as secondary. Amemori came to Italy to further his study. Amemori stayed at his rented apartment near his University in Rome, while they were in Sicily. Yuuichi drove to Rome to find him and helped him unpack and such.

They caught up during the week Yuuichi stayed there, showing him Italy and they got back together. Still long distance, but at least they weren't oceans apart.

The year after, Gilbert, twenty nine and a Sun and a secondary Mist, came. He isolated himself from everyone, only appearing for missions, or Ryuuichi personally dragged him out. He was salty and seemed to hate everyone. Yuuichi, being a secondary Mist, showed him the non-existing rules and house chores, since they have no maid or butler. Only occasional cleaner when all of them were too tired. Gilbert doesn't wanted to get along with him, apparently.

Yuuichi occasionally drove to Rome to find Amemori, or Amemori came over whenever it was break period. Amemori wanted to bed him. He didn't want to, so he backed away, like how he did years ago. Amemori was hurt, but he respected him. Yuuichi ran back to Ryuuichi, confused.

So Ryuuichi held him close for the night, as they basked in each others' warmth. He told him about what he felt about sex, about everything. Ryuuichi told him to possibilities and why he actually felt like that.

"Perhaps you're unable to bring yourself to show Hibiki your vulnerable side, or that you're simply an asexual."

Two days later, he came out as an asexual. Ryuuichi accepted him nonetheless, still love him just as much regardless of it. Amemori took some time, but he soon accepted him. Yuuichi felt unsettled.

The same year, Yura arrived. He's a Sun as well, so he was placed under Gilbert as his mentor for the time being. Things happened, Gilbert almost left them, but it ended up fine, none of them leaving. And Yura announced himself as a transgender man. Yuuichi felt himself being interested in Yura.

But he kept it silent in himself.

His relationship with Amemori was still okay, but there was a huge gap somehow. Until the day Amemori was drunk when visited him. He almost raped him. Yuuichi ran away and back to Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi remained silence, only holding him close. The next day, Amemori was banned from setting a foot in the mansion unless Ryuuichi says so, and Amemori was beaten black and blue. None of them except for Ryuuichi and Yuuichi knew why.

The crack in their relationship grew, just as how Yuuichi's interest on Yura grew. He wondered if he was falling for Yura.

It took a while, but Yuuichi and Amemori made up, and the ban was lifted, but everything hadn't been better.

When they're twenty four, Ivy and Eliot came. Ivy's a Mist, so she was placed under both Yuuichi and Gilbert's guidance while Eliot's flames was still unknown. None of them knew what Ryuuichi was thinking when he brought back Eliot, who was merely ten. When they knew why, they all shut up.

"How long have you and Ame been together?" Yuuichi blinked in surprise at the sudden question from Yura, his hands paused in motion of placing the book on the shelf. They were in the mini library they had, cleaning up and rearranging the books when Yura suddenly jumped to that topic in the middle of their chat.

Yuuichi snapped himself out of it and pushed the book into the slot, looking down. How long indeed? ".. About three years..?" Yura hummed, impressed as he went to take another stack of books.

"You guys sure love each other a lot." Yuuichi blanked out, lips pulled thin. Were they really in love with each other? Were they truly belong to each other?

He sighed and leaned against the shelf, staring as Yura placed the books on the bottom row. "I don't know about that..." Yura looked up at him, in confusion. "I mean, I.. I might be interested in you." He flushed a bit and coughed.

"Thank you. You're interesting as well."

"I mean romantically."

Yura jolted and stared at him eyes wide. Yuuichi remained serious, when Yura suddenly burst out laughing. He frowned. "What's so funny?"

The younger shook his head, amused. "Just when I thought that you're better than Head on this.." He snickered. "I don't know about why you're interested in me, but it's certainly not romantic interest."

"Hah?"

"I mean, you're clearly in love with Ame. Even Head could see that. While I could never know what Head was thinking, he had once told me this, and I quote 'Yuu and Hibiki are much worst than me somehow. Hibiki loves Yuu, that's clear, but he is insecure about his standing. Yuu, on the other hand, hasn't found himself, and is still unclear about his feelings even though he really loves Hibiki.'." Yuuichi's eyes widen again.

"He told me not to tell any of you anything that he said since he wanted you both to find it out yourself, but I couldn't help it." Yuuichi frowned.

"But I.." Yura stood up, smiling at him. "You pushed him away, but isn't that because you're scared of giving yourself to him?" Realization dawned Yuuichi. "It does takes time, loving. Head and Hibari's relationship wasn't without any fight and cracks, but they got back together because of the trust they have. Vice, you love Ame, but because of your attachment to Head, you locked yourself down."

He did. The time he left Amemori and Japan, was to follow his brother even though Ryuuichi had given him a choice to stay. He followed Ryuuichi, because he wanted to stay with him. He was the one who chained himself down because of this, because no matter what, Ryuuichi would accept him and take him into his arms. Because Ryuuichi will never leave him.

"Head noticed this, so he decided not to do anything for you both. Though, he  _was_  furious of Ame that time when he banned him to come here. I wonder why.."

_"Yuu, in contrary to what people says, love doesn't involves anyone else. Polyamorous relationships are one thing, but when it's between two, nothing else matters. What important is the two, love and trust between the two. Remember this well, alright? It doesn't matter who it was, or what it was, if you and your significant other are truly happy, then go for it. Don't hesitate because of circumstances."_

Yuuichi choked on a watery laugh. He covered his eyes and tilted his head back, laughing slightly. Yura was taken aback by his reaction, but he wasn't paying attention. He was  _so_  foolish.

'Ahhh... I really love him..'

"Sorry, Yura, but could you take care of these?" Yura smiled and nodded. He slapped him on the back hard, pushing him towards the door. "Go for it."

Yuuichi smiled gratefully and ran for his car. He drove to Amemori's apartment, ignoring how it was already late, and burst in with his spare keys. Amemori yelped in surprise at his sudden arrival as he was lounging on his sofa and reading something off his phone. "Yuu- Wha-?" Yuuichi said nothing more and just jumped onto the man.

"I'm sorry.." He sobbed out. "I'm sorry for all this time." Amemori frowned and held onto him, patting his back gently. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry.. I love you." The words were muttered out, muffled as Yuuichi buried his face into Amemori's shoulder. Amemori's eyes soften as he held him closer. A stream of tears flowed from his eyes as well. "I love you too.."

'I'm sorry for making you wait, I love you."

They amended, and they grew closer and closer. On Yuuichi's twenty fifth birthday, they were having a party at the Giudizio mansion, and he got drunk as he had drank from evening to one in the morning. Amemori was slightly flushed, but still sober.

They fell into bed together, and the next morning when Yuuichi woke up, he and Amemori were in his bed, both and his back hurts. Yuuichi felt confused yet again, but he returned into Amemori's arms and slept, finally feeling complete.

Sometime in the cloudy afternoon, Ryuuichi, with a smirk, came in when they were still naked and was totally disregarding that fact. He, instead, invited to them the courtyard for tea. Yuuichi never felt so embarrassed in front of his brother before.

"You guys sure made me wait." Ryuuichi mused as he sipped on a cup of black tea, two more cups placed in front of the empty chairs and a plate of sliced cakes in the middle of the ceramic table. They awkwardly apologized as they took a seat. Ryuuichi took another look at them, and smiled.

"Yuuichi." The said man jolted in attention, placing the cup down even before he could take a sip. "Have you found it?" Yuuichi blinked, before he flushed. He nodded slowly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Ryuuichi gave him a gentle look before turning to Amemori, the gentleness disappeared and replaced by a stern facade. "And you, Hibiki. Do you truly love him?"

Hibiki blushed at the sudden question, but when he saw how serious Ryuuichi was, he showed him determination. "Yes."

"You love him because of who he is, and not what his back ground is or who I am to him, right?"

"Yes. You think I was still hung up on you?" Ryuuichi gave him an amused smile, raising the cup to his lips again. "No." He laughed briefly. "I can't believe that my words actually pulled you guys back." He shook his head. Yuuichi raised an eyebrow as Amemori remained confused.

"You overheard?"

"Nope. Yura told me." Ryuuichi finished the tea in one go and placed the cup down. "Congratulation, and I pray for your happiness. The both of you." He stood up and left them, when Yuuichi stopped him. "Wait- I- I'm an asexual, but I just did it with Hibiki and I.."

"Yuu, being asexual doesn't mean you can't have sex. It's just that you didn't want to and find it unappealing. But if you did.." Ryuuichi cast a brief glance at Amemori, who tensed up at his look. "That means you trust him enough, even if you're drunk."

Yuuichi blushed again. He bit his lips and clenched his hands. Ryuuichi noticed how he was controlling himself, let out an inaudible and exasperated sigh, fond. He opened his arms for Yuuichi. "One last time?" 'One last time I'll hold you the way you will hold Hibiki, and the way Hibiki will hold you.'

Yuuichi gave him a shaky smile and jumped into his arms. "Thank you, Ryuu-nii." Ryuuichi squeezed him once and let go. He ruffled his hair and walked back into the building, waving his hands slightly.

"Are you sure about that?" Hibari, who was leaning against the wall and out of the other two's sight, questioned the moment he stepped into the building. Ryuuichi smiled wryly and nodded as they walked off. "Yes. I cannot give Yuu what Hibiki could give after all. And we are never meant to stick together like that regardless of whatever."

Hibari stared at him for a moment before looking away, intertwining their hands together. "You sure act older than you look sometimes."

"Ah, I am but older than you mentally after all."

"You're a pedophile then." Ryuuichi laughed and smacked Hibari on the arm, who had a smile on his face as well. Ryuuichi shook his head in fond exasperation and leaned in, kissing Hibari on the lips.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhummm. Yay for Yuuichi!
> 
> This chapter emphasized more of the twins' relationship? Yeah. The beginning is when they were 15, after that, they were all 17 and Hibari being 19, Dino is 25. The last part with Yuuichi starts off with them as 15, then 17, then 21, 22, 23, 24 and lastly 25.
> 
> The parents meeting each other is short because I've no idea how to continue it.
> 
> Hanakotoba means 'Flower's meaning' or something along the line.  
> 
> Note= Ryuuichi's younger than Reborn mentally by eight years.  
> 
> Fun Fact= After the mission, Reborn and Ryuuichi sneaked into the Cavallone mansion and slept in Dino's room because, why not? Reborn was indeed half naked, but Ryuuichi wasn't. They were, yes, cuddling. Ryuuichi was mentally exhausted somehow after all.
> 
> Fact= The hearing bug was slipped into Ryuuichi's pocket when they were dancing. Of course, Reborn noticed it and he signaled him. Their conversation was heard, but they didn't know that they had another plan. When Reborn patted Ryuuichi's back in an uneven tempo, it was a code. The rap on the shield was a code as well. Basically, they both had a lot of codes. A lot of em.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi isn't exactly a clingy person, but only when he was distressed or too mentally exhausted, he would. Or if he was drunk.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi's really sensitive on his thighs and back (mostly on his shoulder), and he was uncomfortable with people touching his stomach because, he didn't like it. Minus if it's Hibari. And, well, they just made out in that small cave, didn't go all the way *smirks*
> 
> Fun Fact= Yuuichi's mentor is Lal and Colonello since he's a Rain, both of them are Rain, Lal has Mist as well, Yuuichi has Mist as well. And Yuuichi's actually a strategist and a long distance shooter. In basketball court, he's the Point Guard slash Shooting Guard, position ever changing.
> 
> Errmm, so because of the fact that Ryuuichi wanted to start the Giudizio, he needed to know about the paperworks and blah blah blah, system everything blah blah blah. He had literally pestered Dino into teaching him since Reborn wouldn't. That was set around before his 18th birthday.
> 
> Yes, Ryuuichi started calling Hibari by his first name~ =w=~
> 
> The last part was, well, Yuuichi centric. Ryuuichi knew that Yuuichi had an attachment to him, and he accepted him. For the first few years since Yuuichi dated and broke up, he unconditionally accepted him despite knowing that he might plant a seed that would hold Yuuichi back in him. And yes, he did. He noticed it when Yuuichi broke up with Amemori, and when they got together again. It wasn't until when Amemori accidentally tried to rape him and Yuuichi being heart broken did he put a stop to his own action.
> 
> Ryuuichi and Yuuichi had been together since they were born, and Yuuichi loved his brother in a slightly different way. It took Ryuuichi a while to realize that, and he knew that they weren't meant for it. While he perhaps could give Yuuichi what he want, but he couldn't fully complete him. And he wasn't the one for his brother. Ryuuichi immediately saw how Amemori and Yuuichi interacted and all, he knew they were meant together.
> 
> Shits happen, however. Ryuuichi was damn frustrated at how stupid they were of their own feelings, though, he was at fault somehow. Since Yuuichi was clouded by his love for him. Ryuuichi was furious of Amemori to the point of attempting to throw him into a lion den, which the lions were all hungry and starving. Hibari stopped him.
> 
> Never expect Yuuichi and Amemori getting together, now did we? I never did. I was thinking of Yuuichi and Yura or Xena, but somehow, this just popped out. *sigh* My brains...
> 
> Note= Most of the Giudizio members call Ryuuichi as Head and Yuuichi as Vice. They do call them by their names, only certain times.
> 
> I'll write about how Ryuuichi met the rest of the Giudizio members and all in the next chapter, and perhaps, it'll be longer than this one. 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	78. Who We Are

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this chapter is about 25K+ long.

"I pass Vongola to you, Neo Vongola Primo." Orange flames flared off from Timoteo's scepter as he handed the mantle to Tsuna, who was in Hyper Dying Will mode. Reborn stood far on the side, watching with a rather proud smirk as his guardians stood behind him. He locked eyes with Timoteo for a moment before he turned to the crowd, spotting the Cavallone, Shimon, Giglio Nero and Gesso, CEDEF and Varia scattered among the black suited mafiosi.

His guardians, all seven of them, looked at him as he closed his eyes.

He opened them again, his and his guardians' flames flared off brightly.

\-------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna sighed tiredly. He was exhausted, having to greet every single mafiosi in the room and tried to ignore the not so subtle mocks that some daring mafiosi had said. It was clear as daylight, their intention and how they looked down on him since he was younger, and perhaps the youngest Don of Vongola. (It's only a matter of time before they would know not to trifle with him and his guardians.)

His guardians were perhaps strolling around the mansion, their new home seeing that they weren't with him. They were fortunate that they could move around without constantly being stopped by someone. Tsuna envied them a little. He was in the office,  _his_  office, hiding. He rather not greet another set of people after all that. The ceremony started in the morning, and now it's already evening. How did it last that long, Tsuna didn't know.

A knock on the door and it swung open. "Tsuna?" Ryuuichi came in, a hand in his pocket. He was wearing a black suit with a grey button down shirt underneath. His dark brown hair was tied up, shorter than before since he had cut it after their graduation.

Tsuna smiled at him. "Hey. I didn't see you during the ceremony." Ryuuichi laughed slightly. "Ah, I was there, if you're wondering. Behind a pillar with Yuuichi." Tsuna raised an amused eyebrow as Ryuuichi shook his head. "Let's go. Dinner, with Timoteo-san." The brunette nodded and followed Ryuuichi out, the door clicking shut behind him.

"Who's joining as well?"

"Excluding you and your guardians, Timoteo-san and his guardians, CEDEF and Varia? Dino and Romario, Enma and his guardians, Reborn and Yuni. Gamma and Byakuran are joining as well, same goes to my brother and I."

He groaned. "That's quite a lot." Ryuuichi chuckled. "I guess it is."

Tsuna stared at the seventeen years old teen, wondering. "When are you going to make Giudizio public?" Ryuuichi gave him a loop-sided smile. "I already did."

"Eh?! When?"

"This morning, before the ceremony. There was a group that questioned me, so I answered him. Apparently everyone heard and whispered about the Historian and blah blah blah." He rolled his eyes, sighing slightly. "I wondered how did they knew of the Historian."

Tsuna hummed. He and his guardians were busy with the preparation, so they weren't present when that happened. Now that he think about it, there was a commotion going on before the ceremony started. If he remembered correctly, someone was punched and Coyote needed to do damage control. He sweated. 'Was that because of Ryuuichi?'

"Did they believe you?" Ryuuichi scoffed as they turned down a corner.

"As if they would. It took both Timoteo-san and Dino to affirm everything. Coyote-san could only do so much." Tsuna laughed nervously, finally reaching the dining room. The mansion was too huge. His guardians were enthusiastic about it, Tsuna couldn't really relate.

The heavy sets of door was pushed open, and Tsuna immediately saw a spot by the end of the huge long table, Gokudera and Yamamoto on each side and the rest on spread out. The Ninth was at the other end, his guardians spread out equally on each side. The rest of the spots were taken up by the expected members, except the rest of the CEDEF, Varia and Shimon other than Enma, Iemitsu, Xanxus and Squalo, were absent. (Fortunately.)

Timoteo smiled at them as Ryuuichi immediately went to sit on the spot in between Hibari and his brother. Tsuna returned the smile and sat on his spot, a bit awkward since he wasn't used to it.

"Now that everyone's here, let's start the dinner, shall we?" The old man chirped rather happily and the food was brought to the table. Ryuuichi blinked upon the Japanese food, not expecting it. Well, at least Timoteo was considered enough to ask the chef to cook Japanese food.

"It's quite good." Yuuichi commented silently as he ate. Ryuuichi took a bite as well and nodded, impressed. As expected of Vongola, huh. He chuckled internally at his own thought and continued to eat, listening to the conversation that had been thrown here and there with great amusement.

"Ryuuichi-kun." He perked up at that and lowered the cutlery he was holding, turning to Timoteo. "How is building up Giudizio coming about?" He twitched, sweating a little at how the old man was smiling at him. He looked as though he found a new toy to play with, yet not really.

"It's alright, since there's not much things to settle anyway. Thank you for asking."

"That's good. I heard that there's an assassin who's quite interested in you and your organization." He bumped his knees against Hibari's when he felt the slow emitting of dark aura. The man was already annoyed at the crowd today, and was in quite a bad mood since he was forced to participate this dinner. That had irritated him more than he already was.

Ryuuichi ignored the man as he raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"She's the same age as you are. Xena, as she had called herself. She's a solo assassin that took up a few of our missions before." He hummed. A girl. That's unexpected. He memorized the name and nodded. "I'll take note of her somehow." The smile on Timoteo's face grew wider.

"Do you have a place to stay then?"

"Not ye-" "Yep, they have." He snapped his head to Dino, who sat on the opposite side of the table, just as his brother frowned at the blonde. Dino suddenly grinned at him. "It's a gift from the Cavallone."

"That's not neces-"

"Accept it, Ryuuichi." He frowned and exchanged a look with his brother. "Your mother and father was the one who suggested it anyway." He sighed and nodded.

"Thank you."

Timoteo looked as though he wanted to say something when Xanxus took his attention away from Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi sighed in relief internally. The dinner went on without a hitch, fortunately, if you dismiss how Mukuro got bored and tried to annoy Hibari further, which ended up Ryuuichi having to restrain the man from outright jumping across the table to hit the blunette. No thanks to Mukuro.

The twins were about to head to the guest room as the others retired to their respective rooms, Hibari  _literally_  picked Ryuuichi up and carried him on the shoulder like a sack of potato, in front of everyone else.

"K-Kyouya! Put me down!" The said man ignored his protest and carried him away to what he supposed, Hibari's room. (It was placed the furthest away from the others', for various reasons.) Yuuichi didn't even stop the man as he laughed loudly. He couldn't see the others' face, but he could tell that they were amused as heck.

Ryuuichi felt like he was going to projectile sparkles onto Hibari's back when they reached their room. The moment the door closed shut, he was thrown onto the bed like he weighted nothing. (He was sure that he's pretty heavy, so did Hibari did weight lifting, because he doesn't seemed to be aware of it.)

The man loosen his tie and crawled up to him. Ryuuichi felt a hint of dread at how those bluish grey eyes glinted, and how Hibari looked like a predator. "K-Kyouya? What is it-" Hibari dived for his lips and immediately captured him into a passionate kiss. Ryuuichi gasped into his mouth as fingers tangled into his hair, his hair tie snapped. He couldn't help but moaned a little when Hibari bit his lower lips, body pressed flush against his.

He broke the kiss and breathed for air. Hibari didn't stop. Instead, he kissed his jaw, his collar bone and bit onto his neck, eliciting a groan. Moving up slightly, he nipped the ear as Ryuuichi shuddered. "H-hey. What's wrong?" The sentence ended with a high pitch as Hibari's hands slid under his shirt, pulling it out from his trousers. "Kyouya!"

Hibari gave him another bruising kiss, swallowing all the sound Ryuuichi made while his hands rubbed against the pale skin. Ryuuichi felt that the need for air was increasing and hit Hibari's chest, the man pulling off. Hibari leaned his forehead against his and stared into his eyes intensely. "Can we go all the way?"

Ryuuichi's face was set aflame at his words. He tried to pull away to hide his face, but Hibari had a tight grip on him. He felt himself turning redder when Hibari ground their hips together. "K-Kyou-"

"Can we?" Hibari nuzzled against his neck, peppering butterfly kisses. Ryuuichi squeaked a little burying his face with his hands at how low Hibari's voice was, husky and,  _god_ , sexy. He would probably have a permanent blush if Hibari doesn't tone it down. He ran his thought back to Hibari's question, asking himself thrice.

He was hesitating. He didn't know if they were ready, or if  _he_  himself was ready. He wasn't sure. But he trusts Hibari with all his life. He loves him, and he knew Hibari loves him as well. Yet, he still hesitated.

He opened his mouth to say something, only to groan again when Hibari ground harder. He grabbed Hibari's hair and pulled slightly. Hibari paused his fondling and looked into his eyes again. Ryuuichi flushed as he circled his arms around the man's neck. He pulled him closer and whispered into his ears.

"U-umm.. Please be gentle.."

Hibari smiled at that and kissed Ryuuichi again.

\-------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Yuuichi took one look at his brother and snickered under his breath like a madman. Ryuuichi looked as usual, minus the slight discomfort he has when he walked and the fact that his neck was littered with red hickeys that would be very obvious if he wasn't wearing a black turtleneck. That, and there was a teeth mark on his little finger. He blushed and shoved his brother half-heartedly as Yuuichi laughed loudly.

"Wow, locking you down already?" Ryuuichi frowned at first, didn't understand what he meant when it hit him. "You-!" An arm snaked around his waist and pulled him closer to a chest.

"He's mine every since the start." He elbowed Hibari's side, face getting redder. Yuuichi pulled a face and smirked at how Hibari held onto his brother.

"How-"

"He's cheesy, I know. Shut up." He raised an eyebrow and nudged Ryuuichi in a teasing manner. "I was going to say possessive but that'll do." He laughed again and skipped further away from them when Ryuuichi tried to smack him.

\-------------------------------------------------------

" _Hello_." Ryuuichi turned to his side to see a girl with a glass of champagne in hand, barely touched. She was wearing a black dress, and from the way she was dressed, he could tell that she was hiding weapons somewhere on her being. It was well hidden and if Reborn didn't gave him a bunch of lesson on these, he wouldn't even notice.

He smiled to her and greeted back. He turned away from the scenery and leaned against the ceramic railing as she approached. " _Beautiful night, isn't it_." He took a sip from his own champagne, eyes never leaving her.

She nodded, smiling in a way of a person with secrets. Ryuuichi was very familiar with it. " _It certainly is._ " He tilted his head slightly as he lowered the glass. " _What brings such a beautiful lady out here?_ " It wasn't a compliment, nor was it a taunt. It wasn't anything at all, in fact. He was merely saying a fact.

She giggled slightly. Ryuuichi suddenly remember his first hit with Reborn. He would take to deal with this one any day than that one. " _I could say the same to you as well, signore_."

He chuckled and shifted the glass to his left hand, holding it out. " _Ryuuichi Shiroki._ " She took his hand and shook it firmly. Her hand was softer than his, but gun calloused. And knives, perhaps. Her blue eyes twinkled slightly.

" _Xena._ " The name sounded familiar to the twenty-one years old man. He blinked in realization, letting go of her hand the minute she loosen her grip. " _Please to finally meet you, signorina Xena._ " Her eyes twinkled again. Either amused or impress, he wasn't sure.

" _I'm surprise that you knew me, signore Shiroki._ " Her pronunciation on his last name was spot on. Perhaps she was multilingual. Then again, most of the mafiosi are multilingual.

" _Vongola Nono mentioned about you before._ "

" _Oh? Now that's even more surprising. I'd never expect the Don of the most powerful Famiglia to remember my mere existence_." Ryuuichi hummed internally. 'Humble. Or was she trying to be?' Before their conversation could go any further, Reborn stepped out to the balcony. The hitman nodded at her as he turned to Ryuuichi, eyes shifting to the side slightly, indicating that he wanted to talk to him privately.

" _I'm sorry. Please excuse me for a moment_." She didn't mind it at all. In fact, Xena shrugged and stayed on the same spot as Reborn pulled Ryuuichi to the furthest end, out of her earshot.

"There's a group of terrorist on Sicily." Ryuuichi furrowed his eyebrows. "Does the authorities know?" Reborn pulled his fedora down slightly and scoffed. "As long as it's not on mainland, I doubt they would take an interest even if they knew. If the terrorist create a massacre here, the Cosa Nostra will be affected. It'll be a win-win situation for them despite the disaster."

"So you're planning to take them down before anything happens." The hitman nodded. "How many are we going to take down, and how many of us are going?"

"Shoichi deducted it to be a group of a hundred, heavily armed with machine guns, grenades and booms as well." Ryuuichi scowled. They had made it up for their lack of men with machinery and weapons. How typical. "Who else is joining?"

"Vongola cannot interfere directly. I'll go since they can't stop me anyway. Colonello and Lal are going, not sure about the Foundation." He nodded. They could do with that amount anyway. "I'll ask Kyouya later." Suddenly, an idea hit him. He smiled and turned to Xena, who had taken an interest on the stars.

" _Signorina Xena._ " She turned to him. " _How interested are you in taking down a group of a hundred, heavily armed_ _?_ " Her eyes glinted. " _Very interested_." Ryuuichi didn't even need to persuade her, and smirked internally as he explained everything to her. Her eyes were a huge giveaway after all. 'Eyes are the window to the soul, huh.'

\-------------------------------------------------------

There was an annoying and consistent buzz in the earpiece he was wearing, the signal disrupted. There must be someone who was disrupting it. Ryuuichi could only cursed at whoever it was as guns shots and explosions deafened him slightly. " _Xena, left three. Grenade incoming on three o'clock._ " The said girl, who was beside her as they hid behind a sturdy brick wall, made a sound of acknowledgement to his words and immediately did her job.

They just found out that she was a Storm, excellent with long range shooting. She uses a crossbow, and instead of using arrows, she used long, thick needles the length of a palm, coated with Storm flames. Her shots may not always hit, but it did disrupted the enemies' shooting. The grenade, exploded in mid air feet away from where they were.

Ryuuichi positioned the rifle and looked through the eye piece. Immediately, he spotted someone holding what it looked to be a button. His eyes widen and his head snapped to the other side, where Xena was and saw a tiny red light, blinking in the dark. " _Xena!_ "

Her eyes were wide upon noticing the boom as the trigger was pushed.

A loud explosion shook the whole building, Reborn and Hibari, who were in front line and was beating up some persistent idiots, looked up. Hibari's eyes widen slightly when he realized that it was the building his lover and the woman was in, Colonello and Lal were in the next as a blue stream of light shot towards the terrorist, immediately killing him.

"Hibari. Keep going. They'll be fine." The said man narrowed his eyes and turned back to the battlefield. Ryuuichi wasn't someone that weak.

He and Reborn killed off any of those who stopped them and raided the building. Just as they did, a purple opaque sphere floated in mid air, a black panther on top of it, large and growling loudly.

" _Xena? Are you alright?_ " Ryuuichi patted the said woman's face gently, trying to wake her up. She had blacked out the moment the boom went off, the waves of the blast pushing her into Ryuuichi's arms as the shield was put up before it even exploded. " _Xena!_ " She groaned, eyelashes fluttered and blue eyes were seen from the lids.

She gasped a little and sit up from Ryuuichi, looking at the sphere. " _What is this?_ "

" _Shield. You alright to go on?_ " She squinted her eyes at him before breaking into a crazy grin, as though she wanted to do that again. " _Of course! They have to pay._ " Ryuuichi laughed a little at how excited she sounded and gave her a smirk of his. " _Then let's join the front line._ "

\-------------------------------------------------------

Xena was laughing in a rather happy manner despite Lal Mirch was patching her wounds up. Everything went went, and Ryuuichi was amazing as he worked side by side with her. The group of terrorist were eradicated in the span of an hour, Lal Mirch and Colonello joining them mid way.

Ryuuichi shook his head slightly, a small smile on his face, sitting at the back seat with Hibari while Lal and Xena was at the third row. Colonello was driving with Reborn on shotgun. All of them came out alright, with minimal amount of wounds. It was not easy, with just the six of them, but they did it.

" _Hey Shiroki_." He craned his head to look at Xena, her crazy grin was still there. " _I want to join you._ " Hibari shot her a glare, but it was easily ignored by the both of them. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow. " _I want to join Giudizio._ "

" _Are you sure?_ "

" _Positive._ " Ryuuichi chuckled slightly. " _Alright then._ "

Xena, 21 and a Storm, was officially the first member of Giudizio, by her own choice.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He lifted his arms up to block the roundhouse kick from Yi Xiang, Liu Xie gritted his teeth at the pain and pushed him away. Yi Xiang rotated and landed on his feet, rushing forward to attack Liu again. Liu dodged the right hook only to fall onto the cobble-stoned ground from a sweep and a leg stomped onto his chest. He coughed as his breath was taken away, feeling his ribs break at the force.

" _Where is your heart, Shao Ye._ " Yi Xiang pressed harder.

Liu gritted his teeth as he clutched tightly on the leg. " _Why aren't you concentrating?_ " Receiving no reply, Yi Xiang scowled and lifted his leg off Liu's chest, only to stomp once more. " _We're done for today._ " The man walked off with a huff, leaving Liu on the ground, littered with wounds and bleeding.

Liu curled around himself, wincing in pain. Of course he couldn't concentrate. They had been training for hours already, since the break of dawn. He hadn't even eaten anything, feeling as though he would faint out of hunger. He pushed himself up, stumbling as he did, and limped out through the back door into the bustling streets. He would have to get himself healed and get some food.

He gritted his teeth and pushed himself from the wall he was leaning on. He staggered a few steps away from the door and lost his balance. He was expecting to fall face first onto the dirty ground, not into someone's arms. They were strong, he barely noted. " _Hey, are you okay?_ " He looked up to see a man with long, dark brown hair looking at him in concern. His Chinese accent weren't of the local, he noted. A Taiwanese? No, it sounded more clear. Probably more of the Southern parts.

He forced himself to pull away from the grip, only to almost lose his balance again if the man didn't hold him up. " _I'm fine._ "

" _Well, certainly not._ " The man muttered and slung Liu's arm around his shoulder, him holding Liu's waist as he pulled him down the street. Liu honestly did tried to protest, but he didn't have the energy to do so and resigned to his fate, letting the man drag him into a western clinic.

The nurse that saw his condition shrieked slightly and quickly opened the door to the doctor's office. There was no other patients, apparently. How fortunate. For Liu, not the doctor.

The doctor, an old Chinese man with stubble, gasped slightly and quickly told him to take his shirt off, inspecting him. He hesitated. The man who brought him here raised an eyebrow at that and pointed at a few parts of his body, coincidentally his wounds. Was that even coincidence?

" _Few broken ribs, fractured knee, probably a minor concussion, dislocated arm and sprained wrist._ "

They looked at him in slight awe. Liu was surprised. The man did pointed out every one of his injuries, even when he didn't knew he had a concussion. With a smile from the man, the doctor immediately got to work, prying the shirt off him. The doctor found the man quite scary for some reason, despite the smile.

" _W-wait-_ " Too late, his shirt was pulled off and the large tattoo of a black phoenix was seen. The doctor stiffen at that while the man whistled, amazed by it. Why was he amazed by it, Liu didn't know. 'He's.. Not scared?'

" _Y-you're.._ " The doctor stuttered, blanching. The man blinked at him, the smile dropped. He stared at the doctor, then to Liu, who tugged his shirt over his tattoo, looking away.

" _Doctor, I believe you have a job to do?_ " Liu snapped his head to the man, who was smiling again. Only, with a sharper edge. That, and the smile didn't reach his eyes. The doctor broke out of his reverie and shuddered slightly, immediately fixing Liu up. He would rather not go against the man if it means to accidentally provoke Liu.

(It wasn't as though Liu would be provoked. The doctor was the one who patched him up, and he was actually grateful for it.)

\-------------------------------------------------------

" _Thank you_." Liu murmured, bowing slightly. The man immediately stopped him from bowing and nodded. He had paid for his medical fee despite his protest, and was treating him to a meal in a small restaurant. " _No worries._ " Liu frowned slightly as he ate his food.

" _Are.. Are you not scared of me?_ " He didn't understand when the man gave him a confused look as he swallowed. " _S_ _hould I?_ "

" _I mean, my tattoo.. You.._ " The man continued to look confuse. " _Just because you have a tattoo, I should be scared of you?_ " Liu was frustrated. He couldn't decided between labeling this man as dense, or plain idiotic. He probably was a foreigner, granted, but did he not realized that Liu is a member of the Triad.

" _I'm of the_ Triad _._ " Liu wanted to kick him for some reason, when he shrugged as though it was nothing major. " _Well, I'm of the mafia._ "

Liu choked on his food. He coughed and quickly downed the water the man passed to him, giving him a disbelief look. " _What?_ " The man turned amused, smirking slightly. " _As I've just said_." How could someone reveal something so easily as though it was nothing major?

He continued before Liu could say anything more. " _I don't really get the mentality here, actually. It's not as though having a tattoo means you're in some sort of dark organization. And even if you are, it doesn't represent how the person is. So if a child of ten has a scar that he wanted to cover up with a tattoo means he's in a gang or something._ " His eyebrows furrowed slightly. " _Then again, Japan is more or less the same._ " Not Namimori, however. Namimori is different.

Liu blinked. " _You're a Japanese?_ " He whispered, careful to not let anyone hear. He had nothing against Japanese, but most Chinese here, in this area he lives in for years, they loathe Japanese, still stuck in the grudge towards the Japanese for the Second Sino-Japanese War. And the news of what the Japanese did to the Chinese in other countries. To the others, it was humiliation and anger even after all these years. To Liu, it was nothing more than a History that will never repeat again. Everyone change.

Liu just doesn't get why would they still hung onto the History.

" _Uhum._ " The man nodded, absolutely unfazed. Liu realized that the man knew of the hatred the residents here had for the Japanese. And yet, he wasn't the lest bit worried that he would be ambushed or something. " _Your Chinese is pretty good._ " A wry smile appeared along with a shrug. Liu took that as a signal not to pry any further.

" _Are you on a vacation?_ "

" _Hm, not exactly. Speaking of which, do you have a phone charger?_ "

"...  _Eh?_ "

\-------------------------------------------------------

" _Why did you offed your phone_?!" Ryuuichi winced and pulled his phone away from his ear as Yuuichi yelled at him. "I didn't. The battery was dead." He cast a small glance at Liu, who was looking at him in awe at how fast he was talking in Japanese. A loud sigh brought his attention back to the conversation.

" _Anyway, do you have any idea where you are_?" He blinked. He actually had no idea. He was walking around from one place to another since the morning, and it was already, what, six? He looked around for any sign board and spotted one. His eyes widen slightly. "So he's somewhere here?"

" _Yes_." He hummed. "Location."

" _From what I see here, it's the night club two blocks down from where you are. You remember the picture_?"

Ryuuichi hummed. "Yep. I'll go now. Call you later." And the call was dropped. He turned to Liu, who was still staring. " _Are you looking for someone?_ " He was surprised. How did Liu know?

" _You understood?_ " Liu somehow blushed a little. " _I.. I'm a J-Pop fanatic somehow._ " He noticed how amused Ryuuichi was, yet it wasn't the mocking or teasing kind. It was kind of nice. " _I'll need to find someone now, so-_ "

" _Can I follow?_ " He blurted out before he could even stop himself and quickly slapped a hand over . The man tilted his head at him, eyebrows furrowed. " _Are you sure?_ " He said in a way that sounded as though he was concern of him, rather than thinking that he would be a major nuisance. 'What am I doing?' Liu bit his lips slightly and nodded. Something told him that he should follow him for now. If he did, his life would change.

" _Yeah_." Ryuuichi hummed, debating for a moment before nodding. " _Alright. Let's go._ " He led the way and walked down the street, a hand in his pocket. Liu quickly followed. " _Ah right, I haven't ask for your name, have I?_ " He shook his head and introduced himself. " _I'm Liu Xie_."

" _I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi._ " He nodded. 'Long Yi. Quite a nice name.. Well, if it's not pronounced in Chinese anyway.' Liu mentally slapped himself as they passed by an antique shop. " _We're going to.. Capture this information broker. He had once tried to hack into my Organization's system. Unfortunately for him, we didn't put anything much up. Most are written in papers._ " A small smirk hinted with something that Liu couldn't recognize was given to him. A bit scary, and yet fascinating.

" _Shao Ye_." Liu jerked at that and turned around to see two guys running up to him, one with a metal baseball bat. Liu took a small step back as they stopped in front of him, scowling. " _Where were you?_ " The first one said. The one with the bat openly glared at Ryuuichi, who was still unfazed. Liu briefly wondered if there was anything that can throw him off course.

" _Is this person bothering you, Shao Ye?_ " He quickly shook his head and pushed the second one away when he took a step forward menacingly. " _No. He isn't._ " He wasn't pleased, but stopped his steps at Liu's words. " _What are you guys doing?_ "

" _We were collecting protection fees from that shop_ ," A thumb jabbed towards the antique shop.  _"when we saw you. Where is he taking you?_ " Liu bit his lips again, but before he could answer anything, a hand was placed on his shoulder as the man came forward.

" _He's my guide. I'm lost._ " Ryuuichi answered steadily, eyeing the bat before looking into the first one's eyes. " _Is there a problem?_ "

" _Hell yeah there's a problem. Who do you think Shao Ye is to be your guide, bastard?_ "

He mocked a confused look, tilting his head slightly. " _A friendly man, of course._ " His eyes probably glinted somehow, because he could see how enraged the two of them were. Liu tried to pacify them when the one with baseball bat swung it to hit him. Ryuuichi easily pulled Liu back as he dodged just in case Liu was hit instead, jumping back to avoid each swings.

He wasn't so bad, Ryuuichi mused. But Yamamoto was definitely better.  _Much better_.

He reached out to grab the bat, pulled it down in a harsh manner that made the guy letting go of it. That guy cursed loudly at him as he shifted his holding on the bat. " _You know. You're actually mistreating this bat._ " He observed it, noting the small dent it has and the scratches. Yamamoto would probably cringe at these much damage.

" _What do you want?!_ " He smiled sadistically, a smile he picked up from Reborn. (The others kept telling him to stop using it, but it wasn't as though you can stop a smile. That, and he was sure Tsuna picked it up as well.)

" _For you guys to not bother us, of course._ " He threw the bat back, its owner catching it with a stumble. " _Come on, Liu. Let's go_." Of course they wouldn't let them go that easily. The other one took a penknife out of his pocket and aimed to slash him. Ryuuichi sighed and took out his gun, pointing at him. He was actually running out of time.

Liu was surprised at the appearance of a gun, jerking back. The other two took a few steps back as well, fear evident in their eyes. " _Y-you wouldn't dare!_ " Ryuuichi hummed, nodding slightly and lowered the gun.

" _I would, but not here._ " They looked a little relief, only a little. " _However, if you don't let us go, I'll shot your legs and arms._ " Ryuuichi glared coldly. They exchanged a look and the first one clicked their tongue. " _Let's go._ " He said to the other one and ran the other direction.

Ryuuichi waited until they were far enough before keeping the gun back into the holster underneath his jacket. He turned to Liu and gave him an apologetic smile.

" _Sorry about that. I'm in a bit of a rush._ " Liu stiffly shook his head as the continued to walk again, in a faster speed. " _You wouldn't actually shoot them.. Would you?_ " Ryuuichi gave him a brief look as they turned down a corner two blocks after. " _Under different circumstances, maybe._ "

That didn't calm Liu down at all. He just realized that just as the Triad is dangerous, the mafia is as well. And this man, is more dangerous than he thinks.

Liu had never felt so safe for once.

" _I have to ask. Do you hate the Triad?_ " Liu avoided Ryuuichi's eyes. " _Yeah._ "

" _And you want to die, didn't you?_ " His head snapped to Ryuuichi in surprise. " _How did you-_ " Ryuuichi shrugged, not answering anymore as they reached a night club.

They immediately went into the night club, electric-pop music playing loudly as the colorful spotlights shifted here and there in the dark place, creating a rather mysterious ambiance. Girls with revealing clothing and guys as well were on the dance floor, grinding their bodies together. Some were by the bar, drinking. There was a bouncer on the furthest side, perhaps only to keep watch for any fights. Liu frowned, as he had never went into a night club before.

And this night club wasn't their territory, it's an neutral ground.

Ryuuichi, as though he had been here for years, walked in and upstairs, to the VIP rooms without paying any heed to the girls that came up to him. Liu immediately followed him closely behind, not wanting to get lost in this kind of place.

Ryuuichi went into the first room and smirked. Just his luck, he had immediately found the man he wanted for. The information broker was a guy with slicked black hair, wearing a golden necklace and his fingers were full with rings. He was alone, with two girls beside him.

" _What do you think you're doing here?_ " He growled, not appreciating that he was interrupted. He blamed that it was dark, that he couldn't even see who was it.

The man, the one with long hair, shrugged and walked nearer. " _To kidnap you, of course._ " His eyes widen and quickly scrambled up to attack him. Ryuuichi pulled back as a left hook missed his skull. The girls screamed and hightailed out of there. Liu didn't stop them.

Instead, he watched in awe at how graceful Ryuuichi as he fought with the man. In matters of second, Ryuuichi had him pressed onto the couch, his knee on the back and a hand locked behind him. He frowned a little and immediately knocked the man out. Huffing, he got off and pulled the tie off from the man, tying him up with it. He pulled the man up and dragged him out of the room.

" _We're going to have to use the back door. Come on._ " Liu followed him to the back, ignoring the looks of the customers. He went to open the door, only to find that it's lock.

" _Hold him_." Ryuuichi said as he pushed the man to Liu. Liu stumbled a little at the weight. The information broker sure was heavy. How did Ryuuichi managed to drag him as though he weighted nothing?

" _What are you-_ " He jolted when Ryuuichi kicked the door down and slapped a few notes onto one of the workers that came rushing by to see what happened. Ryuuichi pulled the guy back to him and walked out, looking around the alley way. He took out his phone and sent a message.

He walked down the left, Liu following. As they reached to the front, a black car screeched to a stop in front of them. The dark window rolled down, revealing a man with messy, short black hair and narrowed eyes. Liu sweated at the glare that suddenly directed to him.

"Who is he?"

"Someone I found." Ryuuichi pulled open the back door and pushed the unconscious man in. He turned back to Liu and smiled. " _Thank you for accompanying me for the day._ "

" _I did nothing though?_ " He shrugged. " _Maybe, but I'm amused._ " Oh he sure was. That, and Liu had lent him his charger. He glanced at Hibari for a moment. " _Liu, do you think you can be missing from your home for twenty four hours?_ " Liu blinked in confusion. " _There's someone I want you to meet._ "

Liu wondered if he should take up the offer. His heart wanted to go with it, but his mind was telling him no, and that his father would be angry. His father would be angry anyhow, then again. Liu followed his heart.

" _Sure, if you don't mind._ "

And that was how he ended up at the back seat of the scary man's car, Ryuuichi in the shotgun arguing with the man about something. Their Japanese was too rapid for Liu to catch, but he knew it has something to do with him.

"Kyouya, go along with it." Hibari growled under his breath and steered them up onto a hill, the head lights on as the sun had already set. Ryuuichi shook head at his lover's antic with a fond smile, looking out of the window as silence fell. It took fifteen more minutes before they finally reached a traditional Chinese mansion. Liu was surprised to see a mansion up on a hill. In fact, he had never noticed it.

There was a man by the gate, in red and looked so much like the scary man but with long hair and a smile. He greeted them before blinking at his presence.

"Fon," Liu blanked out a moment, eyes wide. "This is Liu Xie. Liu, Fon."

\------------------------------------------------------

Liu wanted to scream. He also wanted to faint. Both because of the fact that Fon was sitting in front of him, serving him tea. The  _Fon_ , was serving him tea. He had never expected that.  _Never_! The legendary Fon was smiling at him, and he had no idea what to do.

In the Triad, there was only one person who managed to get out alive and no one dared to touch that person, and that is Fon. It was said that Fon had maimed more than half of the Triad members, almost killing them. The leader had no choice but to release Fon, and no one dared to say no. Liu looked up to him. He wanted to be like Fon, but alas, he wasn't strong.

" _Liu, right?_ " He nodded stiffly as Fon sat down in front of him, the tea steaming slightly on the table. Ryuuichi and Hibari had brought the information broker to the back room and kept him there. What they were doing after, Fon didn't knew. Fon wondered why his nephew's lover brought back this young man as well. He knew him somehow. He had heard of him.

Liu Xie, the heir to the current leader of the Triad. Young and trained, yet no resolve and the will to live. Maybe that was why Ryuuichi brought him here.

" _Y-yes._ " He smiled. " _No need to be so nervous, just relax_." He said softly. Liu slowly, but surely, did calmed down. " _Please tell me that you're alright._ "

" _Eh?_ " Fon pointed at his bandaged. " _A-ah yes. I've seen the doctor._ " Fon hummed. " _Can you tell me how did you get injured?_ "

" _Um, I was sparring with.. My instructor._ " The typical spar. Spars between the Triad members was never meant to teach and learn, only maim and kill. Fon had lost count of the number of times he had almost killed someone unintentionally when he was in the Triad.

" _F-Fon_." He tilted his head slightly, as an indication for Liu to continue. " _How.. How can I be strong like you?_ " Right off the bat, so it seemed. Fon's eyes widen before they closed shut as he chuckled. He opened his eyes again and took the tea cup up. " _I'm flattered. Thank you._ "

He took a small sip, looking at Liu as he did. " _You can, but not without resolve._ "

" _Resolve?_ "

" _Resolve,_ kakugo, determination _, whatever you call it. It is the prime thing one needs to achieve something._ " Ryuuichi suddenly came in, changed out of his casuals into the traditional Chinese attire. It was white in color, with black lines decorating the sides. He smiled at Fon, who looked pleased that he was wearing it.

" _Thank you. It's really comfortable._ " Fon nodded as he sat down beside them. " _You're welcome_." Ryuuichi turned to Liu as Liu contemplated his words. He continued.

" _Tell me, do you have the resolve to live?_ " Liu jolted out of his stupor, noticing how intense Ryuuichi and Fon was looking at him. " _I.._ " He looked down onto his hands.

He actually didn't have any. He was caged ever since birth, he could never be free. He had no free will to do anything, to go anywhere he wants without his father and his men breathing down his neck. And he could never run away.

Because ' _Once a Triad, forever a Triad til Death takes you._ ' Liu had actually planned on killing himself, because he had no will to live in this golden cage, he had no chance of getting out, and he wasn't as strong as Fon.

Liu stayed silent.

Ryuuichi said nothing of his silence and turned to Fon, exchanging a look with the man. Fon gave him a loop-sided smile. " _Do you want be free, Liu?_ "

Liu looked up. " _.. Yes_."

" _Then find your resolve to live. Live, and break free. Nothing can hold you down except yourself_." Ryuuichi looked to the door just as Hibari popped by. "He's awake." He nodded and stood up. Before he walked off, he turned to Liu for a moment.

" _I can lend you a hand, but show me your resolve first._ "

Hibari was glaring at Liu even when he did nothing, disappearing down the hallway with Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi chuckled slightly at how his lover was. "Are you jealous?" Hibari frowned at him.

"I'm not."

"Sure~"

\------------------------------------------------------

Meeting Fon had brought fire to his heart. His words had made it flared. He couldn't help, but hoped and wished. He couldn't help, but build up the resolve in him to fight and be free from the Triad. But that wasn't what Fon and Ryuuichi said. They want him to find the resolve to live.

He just couldn't seem to find it.

The next morning, at the break of dawn, Liu walked out from the guest room in a sleepwear Fon had lent him. He couldn't sleep a wink and decided to see the sun rise. As he walked to the court yard, he saw Fon doing Tai Chi. He was in awe. Fon noticed him and gestured him to come over.

" _Let's do some exercise._ " He slowly nodded, wondering if he should. Fon saw his dilemma and smiled. " _Don't worry. It's just breathing exercise._ "

Oh. Liu didn't expect that since to him, morning exercises meant sparring. Yi Xiang was damn harsh.

So he sat down beside Fon, both of them taking in the fresh air and relaxing. Fon was so calming, despite the fact that he could easily kill Liu with a snap of his hand. Liu decided not to let his mind stray and focused on breathing. " _How's your night?_ "

" _It's okay. Thank you for letting me stay._ "

" _No worries. I noticed how deep in thought you were since you arrived yesterday. Do you want to talk about it?_ " Liu paused, debating. He spilled everything to Fon.

Ryuuichi yawned as he walked out of his and Hibari's room, heading towards the kitchen for water when he saw Liu and Fon on the grass, Liu saying something to the older. He stopped his tracks and stared. Liu's flames were dim before, as though they were going to fizzle out. But now, as Ryuuichi had saw, his flames were slowly growing, slowly burning more brightly. He probably found a resolve.

Ryuuichi wondered for a moment before he took a step out to the court yard. His timing was probably not the best, but it seemed like Liu had already finished his rambles.

" _Good morning._ " Fon and Liu greeted him back, Liu looking at his untied hair. Ryuuichi took a sit in front of Liu and stared into his eyes.

" _Do you want to get out of the Triad?_ " Something burned in his eyes after the flash of surprise. Ryuuichi took that as the resolve. Not the kind he wanted Liu to have, however.

" _Yes._ "

" _Then I offer you a two choices. I can help you to get out of the Triad. They'll no longer bother you and you'll be able to start anew as a normal person, or you join me in my Organization. I'll not hold you back from what you do, where you go, or if you wanted to leave my Organization after joining. What you choose, it's your call._ "

Liu blinked. " _Your Organization?_ " Ryuuichi nodded.

" _My Organization is more prone for taking up odd jobs from allied Famiglia and watch over the law along with the mafia police. Hence, the name Giudizio. Please don't misunderstand, we're not the police themselves, but what we do is similar. We are kind of like a judge, in another words._ "

Fon smiled. " _They protect more than harm, actually._ " Ryuuichi scoffed a little. " _Vongola is more vigilant._ "

Liu bit his lips. Ryuuichi was offering him a chance for freedom. He wanted it, but it didn't sit well with him. It would meant that he got out not on his own power. And, joining Ryuuichi? He wondered if he wanted to join the dark world just after leaving one, but Fon said they  _protect_. Protect what, he didn't know. However, it left a fuzzy feeling in Liu.

Protecting. He was taught to harm, never protect. He probably couldn't do it, yet he wanted to try. He wanted to change. Liu took a deep breath.

" _I want to get out. But, about joining or not.. Will you please let me think of it for a while?_ " Ryuuichi nodded, agreeing. " _And.. I wanted to get out on my own power._ "

A rather genuine smile appeared on Ryuuichi's face. " _Of course._ "

\-----------------------------------------------------

That was what he said, wanted to get out on his own strength. Easier said than done, Liu gritted his teeth. He had confronted his father and told him. His father was absolutely furious, but he stood strong. Seeing that he wouldn't change his mind, his father told him that he could only leave if he won against Yi Xiang.

Liu cursed. He had never won against his instructor. The only thing he could do was place a bruise or two on him. He was too strong for Liu.

'I need to do this. I can do this.'

So they fought. Yi Xiang was brutal, and Liu noticed that he had been holding back during their training, because now, Yi Xiang's hits were on spot and hard. Liu gritted his teeth upon the punch to his gut and coughed, falling down onto the ground. His injuries haven't heal, giving Yi Xiang more advantage than he already was.

Liu needed to win this.

He pushed himself up, knowing full well that his father, and the rest of the members, were watching him. He needed to prove to them, that he will leave.

" _You coward!_ " Yi Xiang roared as he round house kicked Liu on the head. Liu narrowly dodged the kick and staggered away. He rushed forward and threw hard punches. His blood burned. He wanted to get out.  _He is going to get out_.

He didn't know what happened, but a flash of light blinded him for a moment and when everything registered, Yi Xiang was a few feet away from him, on the ground and slightly charred. Liu's fist was actually cackling green electricity. Everyone stared in shock, absolutely surprised. Even his father.

"Ahh, I knew this would happen." Ryuuichi appeared, dragging a beaten to plump guy behind him. It was the information broker, apparently. " _Shiroki?_ "

His father growled. " _Who are you?_ " Ryuuichi gave him a smirk and threw the information broker to the ground in front of him. " _You think?_ "

Liu couldn't believe his eyes. His father actually paled upon that. " _Y-y-you.._ "

" _I hope you'll know not to simply try and pay someone to steal the information on Vongola._ "

" _What do you want?!_ " Ryuuichi hummed and pointed at Liu. " _Nothing, except him. A lightning. How unexpected._ " Liu blinked, the electricity disappearing. He looked at his fist, confused. His father turned to him, eyes narrowed and face red in anger.

" _Are you serious about getting out?_ " Liu thought he was dreaming, because his father was seriously asking him. As though giving him a choice. Liu half wanted to punch himself to see if it was true.

Instead, he showed his father the fire that was burning in his eyes. " _Yes_." His father stared for a moment before sighing in exasperation. " _Alright_."

" _What?_ "

" _You can go._ " His father's eyes soften slightly. " _You're just like your mother.._ " Liu's eyes widen upon his words. His mother had died fighting, trying to get him out of the Triad. She took her own life as a retaliation, in front of his father. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he kept it in. He nodded to his father.

Just as he was about to walk towards Ryuuichi, he hesitated for a moment. Turning back to his father, he gave him a tight hug. His father stiffen at that, but Liu felt the hand on his head. He smiled.

\-----------------------------------------------------

" _Shiroki._ " Ryuuichi kept his eyes on the road as he turned the steering wheel, humming in acknowledgement.

" _Let me join you_." He glanced to Liu slightly before smiling. " _Sure_."

Liu Xie officially became the second member of Giudizio after Xena, a Lightning and 24.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi breathed in the cold Autumn air as he lied on the roof, half-heartedly counting the stars. After losing count for the nth time and his eyes were strained, he stopped, closing his eyes and let out a shaky breath. On days like these, Ryuuichi couldn't help but hope that he wouldn't feel anything at all.

He wasn't sad, nor was he angry.

He felt empty.

He opened his eyes again. It wasn't a foreign feeling, but he felt that he could do without it. Giudizio is rising, his brother, Xena and Liu are alright, content, even. Ryuuichi should be happy that they're happy. He had no energy, however. Perhaps it was because of the meetings he had this week, perhaps it was because of the amount of work he had. Or perhaps he was just missing his  _home_.

His mental energy was depleting. He was tired. He wanted to isolate himself from everything until he recharged.

Pursing his lips, Ryuuichi forced himself to forget about everything, making himself to think of nothing. It didn't work, however, as his mind worked overtime even when he didn't want it to. Groaning, he moved an arm over his eyes, covering them. He sighed.

"What are you doing here?" He jolted up and turned to the window to the attic he had climbed out from. Hibari was looking at him with unreadable eyes, climbing out and sitting beside him.

"I-" Ryuuichi stopped. He didn't know what to say. His heart clenched. He changed the subject instead. "When did you come back?" Hibari had went to a three month mission to who knows where. It was the usual thing, but Ryuuichi couldn't see him as he himself was off on a trip to France for a research.

"Two hours ago." Hibari noticed how Ryuuichi wasn't looking at him in his eyes. While Ryuuichi still has the habit of avoiding looking into people's eyes unless he was making a point, Ryuuichi would always look into Hibari's. Hibari reached over and pulled Ryuuichi onto his lap and held him close. He breathed the familiar smell of Ryuuichi, taking it in. "I miss you." Ryuuichi buried his face on Hibari's shoulder, nodding. "I miss you too. I miss you so much.."

He pushed Hibari down and kissed him in a desperate manner, as though there would be no tomorrow. Hibari pulled him closer, dominating the kiss easily. A hand slid under Ryuuichi's shirt, eliciting a moan as his hand were cold against his bare skin while the other rested on the back of Ryuuichi's neck. Hibari pulled away slightly and stared into Ryuuichi's glazed eyes, as though they would shed droplets of tears into his. Why was his small animal suffering in silence?

He rubbed a thumb over the eyelids, gently caressing his cheek like Ryuuichi was the most fragile thing on earth. He wanted Ryuuichi to let him share his burden with him. He wanted Ryuuichi to know that he would be there for him even when things were at its worst. He wanted him to let him in fully.

"I.." Ryuuichi stuttered out, his voice shaky and soft, almost as if Ryuuichi was afraid to speak. "Do I even deserve you?"

Hibari frowned. "You do. I should be the one who doesn't deserve you, but I want you. You're mine as how I'm yours." Ryuuichi took a shaky breath. "I love you." He said, and again, and again. A drop of tear fell. "I love you, Kyouya." Hibari pulled Ryuuichi down and kissed him again as he murmured into his lips. "I love you too, my love."

That day, Ryuuichi almost lost his own heart to the multiple jeers and mocks from the other Famiglia members, almost believing in what they said as he was already socially tired. That day, Hibari brought him back and showed him that there was never the need to suffer by himself, and that he will always be with him.

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"Give him a week break." Yuuichi didn't need to turn around to see who it was as he continued to cook breakfast for everyone. He reached over the sink and grabbed the batter. "That's the first thing you say to me in the morning?"

Hibari's arms were crossed as he leaned against the door frame, unfazed by the half-hearted remark.

"And even if you didn't say anything, I had already planned to do so. A month, in fact." Yuuichi sighed. "He has been overworking himself since the beginning of the year. Honestly, did he forget there's still me and the others? Granted, most needed him to look through but still.." He sighed again and turned to Hibari.

"Take care of him, Hibari."

"I will even if you didn't tell me to." Hibari walked back to Ryuuichi's room, leaving Yuuichi alone in the kitchen. He briefly brushed his shoulder, where a bite mark was, throbbing slightly.

Ryuuichi woke up to a familiar chill and pulled his duvet around him immediately, covering his body. A black hole appeared and two members of Vindice appeared with a man with ginger hair, chained and struggling. He frowned. "You guys couldn't wait for me to actually wake up, could you?" He grumbled, but the bandaged men dismissed it.

"Shiroki Ryuuichi. There was a mass murder of the Pio Famiglia. You had heard of it, no?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Yesterday, was it? How's everything?"

"The Don was alright, but half of his men died." Ryuuichi stifled a small yawn. The Don of Pio Famiglia is a good man. As long as he's alive, there shouldn't be a problem.

"And so...? What actually brings you guys here?"

The struggling man was pushed to the front and he ended up kneeling on the ground. Ryuuichi frowned even more. An active flame user, but lack of the will to live. How typical.

"This man is a suspect of the massacre. However, there was not enough evidence to deem that he was the one who did it."

"I killed them, alright? I killed them!" A British, perhaps, seeing that his words were heavily accented. And a liar.

"Sure you did." Ryuuichi shot back slightly. He ignored the growl and looked at the Vindice. "And so? Why did you bring him here?"

"Bermuda said to hand him to you. What you do to him is your wish, he said." He scratched his cheek. What was Bermuda thinking? He should just let the man go, but why would he want him to see him?

"Fine, but tell Bermuda that he owe me an explanation sometimes later."

"Bermuda is a busy man, Shiroki Ryuuichi." The chain on the man clicked and rattled off him, Vindice disappeared back into the portal with a farewell, leaving the man there with Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi huffed and looked at the man.

"So, what's your name?"

The man stumbled up and growled. "I don't have to tell you."

"You don't, but I'll have to refer you as Man, you want?" Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow.

"... Gilbert." It wasn't his real name, but Ryuuichi would take it. The door opened before he could say anything else, Hibari coming in. A murderous aura filled the room, almost suffocating Gilbert.

"Who is he?" He asked.

"Gilbert. Vindice brought him here." Ryuuichi turned back to Gilbert. "We'll talk about things after breakfast, okay? I need to change. Kyouya, could you bring him to the dining room?" The murderous aura lessen upon the explanation, but it was still there. At least Gilbert could breathe properly.

Hibari glared at him. "Come on." And he walked out of the room. Gilbert gritted his teeth and followed. He wasn't stupid enough to fight. He's strong, but the Asian man is much more stronger. It was so obvious.

Ryuuichi slumped back onto his bed the moment the door closed shut, leaving him alone. He sighed and buried his face onto the pillow. He should get ready for the day. He didn't felt like it, but he has to. He groaned. At least he'll be alright even only a little.

——————————————————————

The moment Ryuuichi stepped into the dining room, he immediately saw Xena being insufferable and kept asking Gilbert questions. Gilbert, in turned, stayed silence. Hibari and Yuuichi were silent, however. Liu was sizing him up finding him intriguing.

Ryuuichi sighed and sat down beside Hibari. "Good morning. Xena, stop torturing him." She pouted but stopped. Ryuuichi thanked Liu when he poured him a cup of tea, taking a sip.

"Ryuu, what's going on?" He looked towards Yuuichi and shrugged. "Vindice."

"Stop the delays and tell me what you want." Gilbert growled. Liu immediately frowned. Ryuuichi lowered the cup and sighed. Too early. It was all too early for all of these.

"Alright. I don't know why Vindice brought you here, but that's that. But you're an active flame user. Sun, to the boot." Gilbert stiffen. "What sun?"

"Huh. So you knew about the flames but not in details huh. That can be fixed. Tell me, Gilbert. Do you know what we are?"

".. The mafia."

Ryuuichi nodded. "Indeed. You don't seem to know everything, so you can't be classed as a mafiosi. But you knew of the flames and the mafia, and you're a suspect who claims to be the one who did the massacre of the Pio Famiglia, so you can't be classed as a civilian either."

Xenaa looked a little alarmed. She was dead asleep the whole day yesterday because of jetlag. She didn't knew of the massacre.

"So I'm giving you a two choices. Either you choose to be a civilian fully and leave anything you have against the mafia, or be a mafiosi and join my Organization."

The others stayed silent. Gilbert let out a dry laugh. "As if I have much of a choice." He bit out. Ryuuichi gave him a blank look.

"I'll join you and your merry little troop." A smile appeared on Ryuuichi. It wasn't genuine, nor was if fake. It looked tired.

"Welcome to the Giudizio, Gilbert."

——————————————————————

Hibari pulled Ryuuichi into his arms once they were out of view. Ryuuichi let out a small, relief sigh and leaned against Hibari. He shivered slightly when Hibari brushed his fingers against the red spots on his neck and shoulder hidden under his shirt. Hibari placed a small peck on his head.

"Let's go travelling for a month." He felt Ryuuichi stiffen and pulled away to look at him in the eyes. "What? Don't you have work? I've work?"

"You've worked enough. Your brother cleared your schedule. I'm on a break."

He stroked Ryuuichi's head and kissed him. "Let's go to where you want." Ryuuichi hummed, smiling. He felt so ease with Hibari it made him a little concern. Though, he didn't care. He leaned up slightly and kissed the older man back. "I'll go anywhere with you." Hibari's eyes soften as his lips tugged up slightly.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

"Did you know, they say the colder the room you sleep in, the better the chance are for you to have bad dreams." Ryuuichi chuckled to himself, looking out the window of the airplane at the horizon over Hibari, who sat by the window. The sun was setting, as they had boarded the night flight back to Japan. The scene was beautiful, and Ryuuichi felt like not even taking a picture of it would justify the beauty. So he just watched, memorizing everything as much as he could.

"Perhaps that's why I'm able to sleep well whenever you're beside me." He pulled an amused face at Hibari and chuckled again. He pulled out his phone and plugged in the earphone. Placing one of the bud into his ear, he pushed the other one onto Hibari's. The older man raised an eyebrow but went with it. He was fine with it since whenever Ryuuichi did this, it meant that he would only play soft musics, or just replay one song over and over again.

Immediately, the sound of piano was heard through the earphone. Ryuuichi hummed silently and leaned against Hibari, intertwining their fingers together. They were in the first class section, and unlike the normal one seater, they took the double one. (Vongola made that happen.) Hibari and his problems with crowds. Ryuuichi was slightly exasperated, yet he found it quite cute of Hibari. After all, for the both of them, privacy was the utmost important.

Though Hibari tends to take small risks in public.

They've decided to return to Japan and visit each places in a month. It seemed a bit impossible, since Japan, by no means, bigger than Italy. That, and they couldn't even finish visiting every place on Italy in a single year, let alone a month. Well, they were busy after all.

"Hey," Ryuuichi hummed silently as he played chess against the computer on the monitor. "Do you think I'm a monster?" He paused and looked at Hibari, who had a blank face. He turned back to the monitor and made a move. "You are."

Hibari's eyes widen in surprise. "You're a monster, just as how I am a monster as well." He was confused. What was his lover saying? In comparison, he was much more of a monster than him. Hibari was cold hearted, unlike Ryuuichi. He killed more than him, destroyed more than him. If anything, Ryuuichi was more of a human.

"I mean," Ryuuichi won the game. He left and turned back to Hibari with a small smile. "Aren't all humans monsters? We create, we destroy, we bring, we take, we protect, and we kill. We did all these for ourselves just to live and just for the sake of it. We're all born a monster with darkness that constantly grows. No one is without darkness, not even kids." He absentmindedly rubbed the back of Hibari's palm, playing with the fingers.

"Not even infants?" He nodded.

"Not even infants. Well, perhaps the minute it was born, but even so, there'll still be darkness in them. Perhaps its just a tiny dot the size of a virus, but it'll grow along with us. It's almost the same concept as 'normal'. There's no such thing as 'normal'. What  _is_  'normal' anyway? Is it true what we do everyday is 'normal' or is it not? There's no answers to these things. Just as how there's no one who isn't a monster."

Hibari stared into Ryuuichi's eyes, whose dark brown orbs were shining slightly, full with trust and love. His own doubt disappeared immediately, a small relief smile on his face.

Monster was a name he heard ever since he was young. He never really pay a heed to it, but it still annoyed him with the thoughts of 'Aren't I human as well?'. Over the years, he had disregarded it and embraced the fact that he was monster. Just recently during his mission, a kid who had witnessed him fighting called him a monster. Unexpectedly, it stung a little. And when Ryuuichi said he was one, it hurt a whole lot more.

Until he explained. Hibari never felt so blessed and loved before. He chuckled a little as Ryuuichi leaned in to peck him on the lips. "You're  _my_  monster, love."

"You should become a philosopher instead, you know?" Ryuuichi laughed. "Then I'll be a philosopher who kills, wouldn't I?"

_Just as he gave his heart to him, his heart was returned along with another as everything doubled._

_\------------------------------------------------------------------_

"So this is your room from now on. See if there's anything you need, and we'll go buy it next time. And your shirts. Definitely need to fill up your closet before Ryuuichi comes back. He'll probably buy anything that is of your size immediately, regardless of whatever." Yuuichi handed a set of keys to Gilbert as he showed him his room on the third floor, closest to Liu's room. Xena took the furthest one since Ryuuichi was adamant that no one take a step near her quarters unless she gave the permission.

"You can explore or do whatever you one for the day since there's nothing to do today. Though, remember not to go into others' rooms without permission."

Gilbert doesn't looked as though he appreciated that. He kept scowling at everything despite Yuuichi's best effort to calm him. Or he was calm, but prefers to scowl at every single thing that seemed to offend him unknowingly. Yuuichi had no idea why Ryuuichi would recruit this man, who seemed to hate him. He was sure that even with Vindice's influence, Ryuuichi wouldn't simply let someone join them. Which was why their Organization never grew bigger than five people.

Ryuuichi never had the plan for their Organization to grow, nor had the mind to find an heir. Not now, not ever.

Gilbert scoffed. "Like hell I would do that."

Yuuichi frowned. "Look, perhaps you didn't like this idea that much, and we just got to know each other like, a few hours ago, but this is now your home. We're now your family, by default or not. Throw that grump out and try and get along with everyone." His phone suddenly beeped before Gilbert could say anything. He took it out and read the message. "If you need anything, find Liu or Xena."

And he walked off, leaving Gilbert there. Yuuichi felt that they really need to make everyone bond with Gilbert somehow.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Yura panted heavily as he zipped across the rood, hyper aware of the shouts behind him. Everything was foreign to Yura. He wasn't anywhere near his house, he wasn't in Russia. He took in a mouthful of air and quickly jumped over the fence, thanking the years of parkour experience he has. Yelping, he shouted an apology when he accidentally surprised an old lady, but didn't stay back to see if she was alright. Instead, he kept running.

There was only one thing that explained everything. He was kidnapped. To where, even he didn't know, but it was an Asian country. Given that it was Autumn and it's cold here, he doubt it was South East Asia.

He winced when something nicked his thigh, but kept on running. He climbed over another set of fence and into this large area, a school, perhaps?

"There! He went there!" He gritted his teeth, and quickly ran into the building. It was already evening, so there wasn't anyone other than the guards. While he doubt that the guards were able to do anything to his captors, he still tried to see if he could find anyone who can help him.

He burst into a room and slammed the door shut. Immediately, he climbed into the huge closet and locked the door. There were muffled shouts, and multiple foot steps, all frantic. He twitched when they were close, and covered and nose when they came into the room as well. "Shit, where is he?" 'Japanese?' Yura wondered briefly but he used all his might to not make a sound, not even daring to breathe.

"He shouldn't be that far." There were five men, if Yura remembered correctly. He wasn't weak, he knew at least how to defend himself, but against five possibly armed men? Yura wouldn't make it out alive. "Let's find him in the other- Ack!" A loud thud made Yura blink. "Who are yo-" And another, and another, and another.

And then a gun shot. Yura flinched at the loud sound, but he realized the one who took down the men was the one who fired it since one of them yelled in pain. Then silence.

"Ahh.. Kyouya wouldn't be pleased." Something clattered against the ground. Metal, Yura noted. A gun, perhaps? He blinked again when there was nothing. No sound at all. Not even a single breath or step. Yura felt that he wasn't exactly out of danger yet, but whoever it was, they saved him somehow.

A knock on the closet door made Yura jump. "Hello? You can come out now." Yura frowned. He couldn't understand. "I mean-" A cough. "It's safe now." The next sentence was spoken in English. Perhaps his savior realized he couldn't understand Japanese. He bit his lower lips and debated.

"Please stand back.." He rasped out, voice parched. A beat after, he pushed the closet door open, creaking loudly as the hinges were rusty. His eyes widen upon seeing the guys that previously chased him on the ground, all unconscious. One of them was bleeding, but still alive. They made Yura sick.

"Are you okay?" He focused his eyes onto the man in front of him, dark brown hair and eyes. Asian, definitely, but his English was so good.

".. Yeah." Ryuuichi nodded. He held out his hand for the teen when he noticed that his thigh was bleeding. He would have to bring him to the infirmary, so it seems. But the teen doesn't look as though he could walk any longer. Yura's legs were shaking. "Please hold on."

"Wha-" With a heave, he easily picked the teen up, careful of his wound and walked out of the room. He stepped over the unconscious men, making a mental note to tell Hibari and walked up the stairs. "I-I'm alright!" He ignored the protest and went straight to the infirmary.

Placing Yura onto the bed, he told him to take off his trousers. Yura blushed and sputtered incoherently. "A-ah, don't get me wrong. You're injured. I'm just going to patch you up." Ryuuichi raised both of his arms to prove it. The teen was wary, but he slowly nodded and slid it off. Ryuuichi smiled a little and went to take the bandage and some other stuffs on the shelf.

"Can you tell me what happened?" He asked as he dabbed the antiseptic-soaked cotton onto the wound after cleaning it with a damp cloth. Yura grimaced at the pain, but held still.

"I don't know. I was back in my neighborhood in Russia, and then when I realized it, I was in this storehouse.." Ryuuichi nodded. "Who are those men?"

"I don't know."

Ryuuichi paused for a moment and stared at Yura with a blank face. He looked away and grabbed the gauze and bandage, rolling it over the wound. "Is it too tight?" Yura shook his head. Ryuuichi hummed and kept everything away. "Well, can you walk?"

"I.. I think so?"

Ryuuichi nodded as Kuro and Shiro came out. Yura jerked back slightly at the sight of full grown panthers, nuzzling themselves on Ryuuichi. They were up to Ryuuichi's hips, and are very big. And they popped out of nowhere. Yura was very confused and surprised.

"They'll bring you to the reception room, where my lover is. Tell him the situation. I'm going interrogate those guys." He patted the both of them and they made their way to Yura. Kuro sniffed him slightly before letting out a soft noise at the back of , he and Shiro both staring at him.

Ryuuichi chuckled slightly at how uncertain Yura looked. "Don't worry, they won't bite you." Unless it was those who attacks Ryuuichi. Yura glanced at him, doubt in his eyes. He reached his hand out slowly, and gently patted Shiro on the head. Shiro nuzzled into his hands while Kuro booped him on the leg slightly. He couldn't help but smile slightly.

Ryuuichi smiled and walked out silently. The smile dropped as he made his way back to the room he left the unconscious men.

Yura shakily stood up, steadying himself. His legs still felt like jelly, as he did ran for a long distance. Though, he wasn't an athlete for no reason. Huffing, he walked out of the room and up the stairs slowly, Kuro and Shiro patiently waited for him as they led the way to the reception room.

When he opened the door, he had not expected a man glaring down at him. 'He did say 'he'..' Yura sweated at how cold the temperature suddenly became, only with Kuro and Shiro beside him to ensure that the man wouldn't outright attack him.

"Who are you?" Japanese, he couldn't understand, but he somehow knew. So, he replied in English. "U-umm.. Your lover helped me? I was chased by five guys." The man's eyes narrowed. It wasn't directed to him, fortunately. "Sit." A brief gesture to the couch as Hibari pulled out a laptop out of nowhere.

"Name, age and Country." He asked the moment Yura sat down, typing furiously on his laptop.

"Yura, 18 years old and Russia." He nodded curtly as silence fell between them, only the sound of constant clicks on the laptop filling up the room.

Yura felt awkward. He was suddenly grateful of the panthers' presence, or he might break under the tensed atmosphere. The door slid open and Ryuuichi came in, dragging the man who was shot with a scowl. "Kyouya. You have a plier somewhere?" He slid the door close and dropped the man on the coffee table in front of Yura, making the teen jolt.

"Shelves. Second drawer."

"I'm suddenly wondering why you have a plier here even though I was the one who asked.." Ryuuichi made his way to the shelves and pulled the said drawer open, taking out a rather old looking plier, rusted. It was small with a blunt tip, but Ryuuichi would make do with it.

"Stupid people with their kamikaze style.." He grumbled underneath his breath and walked back to the unconscious man. He tilted the head back and opened the mouth widely. Before he did anything he looked back to Yura. Yura's eyes were wide, in both shock and disgust.

"I suggest you look away." He did the moment Ryuuichi said it, whipping his head to the side and eyes closed. Ryuuichi gripped the plier properly and placed it into the man's mouth. Giving a brief scan over the teeth, he narrowed his eyes. He used the plier and gripped onto the last tooth on the bottom left. He harshly twisted it and pulled it out.

A loud scream echoed the room as Yura flinched. He didn't dare to open his eyes even then. Ryuuichi cringed at that internally, since he really didn't like doing this kind of thing. Though, he couldn't have this guy dying. The four other which he didn't shot committed suicide, each hiding poison that kills off the brain the moment it's eaten in their last teeth.

He threw the plier along with the tooth into the dustbin as the man coughed, eyes frantic. He glanced down at the man with blank eyes and gripped the head, slamming it onto the table when he started screaming again, only, with profanities that made Hibari wanting to kill him off immediately.

"Shut it." He tighten his grip on the skull, causing immense pain. "Who are you guys and what did you want from him?" Yura slowly took a peek, cracking his eyes open. He was immediately greeted by the man struggling against the rope that held his hands together behind him, and how tight Ryuuichi was holding him.

"None of your goddamn business!" The man screamed again when he felt as though his head was splitting. Hibari came forward as Ryuuichi released his grip. They exchange a brief look before Ryuuichi sighed, heading towards the laptop. "Do it in the next room, perhaps?" Hibari grunted and dragged the struggling man out, closing the door behind him.

Yura stared at the door for a few moments, and then a series of loud screams echoed again. He jumped.

"Sorry about that. Do you have any idea why you're kidnapped?" Ryuuichi scanned over something on the laptop. Yura shook his head, but then realized that the man wasn't looking at him. "I don't know."

"... You're the second child of a noble, huh." He flinched and looked away. Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow over a particular information and turned to Yura. "What's your pronoun?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, are you a he or a she?" The teen flinched again. "I'm sorry, that was a bit insensitive of me." He quickly shook his head. "I'm a he.." Yura frowned at his lap. He hated it when people ask him. It wasn't that he didn't want to admit, but people always discriminate him, look at him in disgust and tried to convince him that he's not he. He hated it so damn much.

"Okay." His head snapped up to Ryuuichi, who seemed nonchalant about it. That was actually the first time someone accepted him simply like that. Ryuuichi was looking at him, eyes and body seemed to accept it. Yura was stunned. "Well, judging from your background- sorry, have to look just in case we couldn't get any information-, I think you're either kidnapped just for ransom, or some dispute in your family.."

Ryuuichi's voice faltered slightly as his eyes narrowed a little at the ceiling before shaking his head. Yura wondered what he was thinking.

"His brother was the one who's behind all these." Hibari said the moment he came into the room. "Seemed like he wanted the yakuza to sell him off." Yura couldn't help but let out a small sigh. He wasn't particularly surprised. His family never really liked him much before, more so after he told his parents that he's transgender. He had somehow suspected that they would probably try to get rid of him.

Yet, it still hurts.

"Huh. Can't let him have that." Yura, for the nth time, was surprised as he look at Ryuuichi. "Which Yakuza?" Hibari pulled out his phone and tapped something on the phone. "It's done."

".. Kyouya, what did you do?" The said man shrugged. "I set the others onto them." His grey eyes narrowed. "I will not allow any of these activities happening in Namimori."

Ryuuichi rolled his eyes as he shut the computer, leaning back against the chair. He turned to Yura again. "So, Yura. What do you want to do from now on?"

".. I.. I don't know.. But can I ask something?" Ryuuichi stayed silence, gesturing him to continue. "Are you guys.. Mafia?" Yura asked, unsure and a little bit afraid.

"Yes." He took a deep breath, nodding. "Okay." He said breathlessly. That was unexpected. Oh, wait, no. It wasn't. Ryuuichi did pulled the man's teeth out without a single bit of remorse, and in front of Yura anyway. He was somehow glad that he didn't watch it. Then again, Yura hails from a noble family with many dispute between the Russian gangsters and underground. Yura didn't know of the details, but he knew just as much.

"Hmm, so do you want to go back-" "No!" He quickly slapped shut, apologizing for cutting the man off. Ryuuichi merely chuckled and waved it away, not the lest bit offended. "It's alright. Since you're 18, you should be able to cut off your family ties, if you want to, and start a new life. That is, if you want to."

"I.." Yura didn't know if he wanted to cut off his ties with his family.. He still like them despite what they did. They're still family. Ryuuichi seemed to knew his internal dilemma and leaned forward, his fingers intertwined. "Or, you could stay here in Japan with my parents. Unless, of course, you want to follow us back to Italy but you would have to join the mafia by default."

Last year, Ryuuichi had persuaded his parents to retire even when they were still so young. Yuuichi agreed with him, despite their protest. It took them eight months before he was able to force them to retire, constantly bothering them with it. Now, they had started a small cafe in Namimori, near TakeSushi.

"Can I think about it..?" Ryuuichi smiled.

"Of course."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Yura couldn't stop blushing the moment Ryuuichi and Hibari brought him to Ryuuichi's home, where his parents were around. They immediately fussed around him and drew a bath for him, lending him some of Ryuuichi's old shirt and trousers. He was flustered, and the two men who saved him wasn't much of a help as they kept watching in amusement.

Ryuuichi had explained the details to them, and his parents merely shrugged the information off, accepting it right off the bat. Yura honestly wondered what was with this family.

"Yura~ Is Earl Grey Tea alright for you?" Sakura's voice was heard from the kitchen as he stuttered a yes in reply. Ryuuichi snickered at that for a moment before walking off to take a call. 

"Yuu? What's wrong?"

" _Sorry, didn't want to bother you when you're on your break but the Pio Famiglia's Don passed away yesterday._ " Ryuuichi's eyes narrowed as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Cause of death?"

" _Unknown, but there's a rumor that he died because of poison gas. Some people accused that it was Gilbert's doing, but he hasn't stepped out of the compound even once._ "

"Have you told him?"

" _Yes. He knew the moment the news came._ " Ryuuichi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, easing a headache away. "And how is he?" A pause, Ryuuichi frowned. " _He immediately admitted along with a proof. Vindice came and took him away this morning._ " Ryuuichi cursed under his breath. " _.. What should we do? Liu and Xena are restless._ "

"I'll head back immediately and pay the Vindice a visit." His eyes glinted slightly, a bit murderous. "I won't let them take away my family." After a few more words and the information of the mourning ceremony for the late Don, the call ended. He looked to the side and immediately saw Hibari staring at him with a solemn look.

"Something came up?" He nodded. "Yeah. I'll need to head back immediately." He walked back into the living room, where his parents turned to him with concern. He huffed and told him the news of the passing of the Don, and that he needed to be back in Italy for something. They nodded, his father helped him book the ticket. He turned to Yura and patted him on the shoulder.

"You can stay here until you've made up your mind." He gave him a soft smile, squeezing his shoulder a little before letting go, walking back to his room to pack some stuffs. Hibari followed him up, a small frown on his face.

"I'm going back as well."

"You know you don't have to. Besides, I'll need to settle this alone." He pulled Hibari closer and kissed him. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. Take care of my parents, okay?"

Hibari sighed and kissed him again. Whenever Ryuuichi had something in his mind that he wouldn't tell Hibari, he preferred not to involve anyone. It sometimes frustrated Hibari, but he knew he could handle it. After all, if anything happen, Ryuuichi would accept any help from him, or the others.

"Be careful." He muttered onto Ryuuichi's lips, arms around his waist as he pressed his body against his. Ryuuichi smiled. "Of course."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Yura wasn't used to it. He wasn't used to being fussed around. He was an independent kid. He did everything on his own. He could surely do everything alone now as well, but Sakura and Kei wouldn't let him after knowing that he had an injury. When he woke up the next morning, Ryuuichi was already gone, back to Italy, and the two adults still fussed over him.

Yura felt awkward, and embarrassed. Yet, he felt loved for some reason. They cared about him more than his own biological parents do, even though it was just a short span of time. He envied Ryuuichi for having such a pair loving parents, though he wasn't hating his background.

He was glad of it, as it had shaped who he is today, and that he get to know Sakura and Kei.

"Um, can I know about what Ryuuichi do? I mean, I know he's a mafioso, but.."

"Ahh, did Ryuu gave you a choice of joining him?" Kei chuckled. "How typical of him. Well, Ryuu is the president of this organization called the Giudizio, he's also the middle man for two of the most powerful Famiglias, the Vongola and the Cavallone. In addition, he's the Historian. His work mostly centered around Giudizio." Yura blinked at the fact that Ryuuichi was a Historian. He didn't understand that.

"Giudizio, as what in Italian is, Judgement. They mostly do researches on various of things, and overlook the blindspots of the Mafia law. While they do not carry out the punishment for those wrongdoers, they do see if said wrongdoers deserves a chance of restarting before they sent them to the mafia police; Vindice. On the other hand, if Ryuuichi stands as the Historian and not the head of Giudizio, he'll carry out the Judgement himself."

Yura got more and more confused, but he had gotten a general gist. "So, the.. Giudizio is a vigilant group?"

Kei hummed, shifting slightly. "Not exactly. If vigilant, it would be Vongola, whose current Don has the mindset of changing the whole Mafia. Giudizio isn't that nice, nor is it cold. Giudizio stands as a neutral party to all. It's a bit confusing, but once you see them work, you would understand."

Yura nodded stiffly.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

" _Si. We will definitely attend. Thank you._ " Ryuuichi waited until the other person finished his sentence before dropping the call. He pulled the earphone out and toss it aside. He turned the steering wheel a little to the side before hitting the break right in front of a huge metal door with steps in front. He got out and looked directly into the security camera, hidden.

"I want to speak to Bermuda." He declared loudly. He had immediately came over to find Vindice after he arrived back in Italy. He was feeling slightly jetlag, but he was restless. He couldn't even rest in the plane for god sake. There was no answer, silent as it always is, until the door creaked open, two Vindice men came out.

"Bermuda-sama is busy."

"Well, you can tell him to be busy  _after_  I'm done." He bit back, but still stood by where he was. Before they could say anything else, Jager came. "Let him in." At his words, they opened a path for him to walk through. Ryuuichi grunted a little before walking in, passing by the guards.

He immediately felt the difference in temperature from outside and inside the prison. The prison was really cold, almost as though it was lifeless. 'Well, it  _is_ a prison..'

Jager led him to Bermuda, who sat by a small throne while staring at a monitor. Bermuda turned to him, and Ryuuichi could practically see him smiling under the bandage. "Hey, Ryuuichi-kun. I've been expecting you." Ryuuichi huffed.

"Sure you did. Let's cut the chase. Where's Gilbert?" He narrowed his eyes at Bermuda as he floated onto Jager's shoulder, sitting there. "Hmm? Oh that man? In the prison, of course."

"Let him go. He's innocent."

"And what proof do you have that he is, as you said, innocent." Ryuuichi scowled and gestured to his own eyes. "Do you think he could possibly lie to me?" When Bermuda said nothing, he clicked his tongue. The head of the Mafia Police is the same. There was no way that anyone could deceive him. Of course he knew that Gilbert was lying. But because there was a proof that came in form of a gas tank, empty with poisonous gas. The type that wouldn't even be detected even after breathing it in.

"I don't have it now, but I need him to get it."

Bermuda stared at him for a few moments more before turning to Jager. The tallest of them nodded and went to where the prisoners were kept, and dragged out a struggling and trashed looking Gilbert, chained and eyes blindfolded. "We'll give him five days of grace." Gilbert stiffen at Bermuda's voice even though he wasn't talking to him. "If no proof of his innocence is handed by then, we'll have to take him back."

"Sure."

Jager pushed Gilbert to Ryuuichi, who grabbed his arms tightly to hold him up. He tighten his grip when Gilbert kept struggling. The chain clicked and fell off from the man, leaving only the cuff on. "You sure is protective, Ryuuichi-kun."

Ryuuichi gave Bermuda a sinister kind of smile, a tad bit wry, however. He wordlessly turned and pulled Gilbert out of the prison, carefully guided him to his car. He opened the door and pushed Gilbert into the back seat, ignoring the loud protest. He slammed the door close and it immediately locked automatically.

"Let me out!"

He slid into the driver seat and drove away. He drove back to the Giudizio's mansion, breaking the speed limit as he tried to contain his irritation. Gilbert kept making noises and tried to break the window open despite that his hands were still cuffed behind him. Once they arrived, he slammed on the break, causing Gilbert to fell to the front by force.

He opened the door and pulled Gilbert out. "What do you want?!" The front door opened as Liu and Xena, wide eyes and surprised, came out. "H-head? What's wrong-" He waved at them a little, but continued to drag the man into the building. He went to the bathroom and filled it up with cold water, the door locking before anyone could come in.

He gripped Gilbert at the back of his head and slammed him into the water, forcing him to stay down for a few seconds before pulling him out. Gilbert gasped upon able to breathe and panted, the blindfold soaked.

"Are you awake now?" Ryuuichi finally spoke after a long moment of silence.

"Hah?!" Gilbert weren't able to say anything more before he was slammed back into the water. It was damn cold. He struggled, not wanting to drown in this kind of situation. He was pulled back up again before he knew it and was thrown onto the floor.

The blindfold was tugged away, and Gilbert blinked against the dark room. Apparently, Ryuuichi didn't even switched on the light as he loomed over him. "Are you awake?" Gilbert scowled.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I should be asking you that question you idiot!" Ryuuichi yelled at him. Gilbert jerked, eyes widen. Why was this man so furious?

"Why are you admitting something you didn't bloody do?! What was going on in your mind that it was the right thing to do?!"

"It's not even your damn business-"

"It's my goddamn business alright you dumbass! I'm your goddamn family!" Gilbert stayed silence, absolutely speechless. "From the moment you chose to join us, you've already became our family! I don't care what kind of shit you were thinking before that, or what kind of background you came from, but you're one of us now! And you worried us! Do you know, how damn concern we are?! I give no shit to your weird suicidal attempts but if you want to do it, at least tell us that you wanted to leave or something, or we will never let you go!

"Clear your goddamn mind." Ryuuichi gritted before he stormed out, leaving a drench Gilbert behind with his own thoughts. Gilbert didn't understand. Why would he take him as family? He doesn't deserve it. He doesn't deserve any happiness. But what Ryuuichi had said left him thinking. Did they really took him as one of theirs? He didn't know.

Yuuichi came in, a solemn look on his face. He unplugged the tub and let the water flow away before plugging it in again. This time, he filled it up with warm water. He turned to Gilbert, who was still on the ground, and pulled him up, steadying him.

"What Ryuu said was all true you know. He didn't even managed to rest when he rushed back here from Japan, immediately going after you. Hell, I'm sure he didn't even eat or drink anything." He muttered and clicked the cuff open. Gilbert rubbed his sore wrist, looking down to his bare legs.

"Ryuuichi doesn't always invite people to join us, which is why we're so small. He found it insignificant to have so many people, but he does ask when he found those he felt that he has a connection with. Less than five times, I would say." Yuuichi handed Gilbert a set of clean clothes and a large towel. "Take a bath first. We'll discuss the rest after."

Yuuichi clicked the light on, dim at it is, and walked out, but not before stopping for a moment. "We really care about you even if it doesn't seemed like it, you know." He closed the door shut.

Sighing, he turned to Liu and Xena, who both were frowning in concern. "How's he?" Xena asked.

"A bit shaken. Where's Ryuu?"

Liu shook his head. "Not sure. Head had stormed away without a word." Yuuichi sighed. "Well, we'll leave him alone for now. He needs to calm down."

\------------------------------------------------------------------

True to what Yuuichi had said, Ryuuichi returned to his usual self half a day later. The twins silently discussed of the Pio Famiglia's incident and why it has anything to do with Gilbert, and Ryuuichi suspected that it could be a grudge. "Who told gave the news again?"

"The right hand man of the Don." Ryuuichi frowned. "Isn't he supposed to be dead?" He had seen the report and the people who had died. The right hand man should have died during the mass murder, sacrificing himself for the Don.

"Yeah, but strangely, his name on the list suddenly disappeared." Yuuichi showed him the list, pointing at a gap. "There's no trace, no nothing." Ryuuichi hummed and stared at the gap.

"An imposter. A mist, to the boot..."

"Rave." They both turned to Gilbert, who came out of nowhere. "Rave Cristhe. He's a illusionist who impersonate people." Ryuuichi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "He.. He was the one who made me kill my family." Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes. "Okay. We'll have to find him." A smirk appeared on his face. "It seemed like we need to raid a funeral ceremony, Yuu."

His brother sighed in exasperation. "I realized."

Gilbert merely blinked in confusion.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

" _Thank you for coming._ " Ryuuichi smiled and shook hands with the late Don's right hand man. " _I'm truly sorry for the lost._ " He exchanged a few more words, Gilbert and Yuuichi behind him. He would say that the imposter's acting skill was really good, because he didn't even twitch when he saw Gilbert. Though, his eyes were different story. Those eyes filled with hate and disgust.

" _I'm sorry, but mind if we talk to you in private? It has something to do with the rumor._ " Ryuuichi whispered into his ears, knowing full well that he had his attention. He didn't want to waste anymore time in this.

" _Sure. This way._ " The imposter led them to a more private part of the garden, passing by a bunch of people who were mourning. The ones who lived during the mass murder, he supposed. 

Ryuuichi's smile dropped the moment they were out of sight. " _Is it true that the Don died because of poisonous gas_?" The imposter nodded. " _Yes, but there was no sign of anyone getting into the Don's room when he was asleep. There was no clue of what kind of gas it was. And yet, the Don died in pain.._ "

Ryuuichi hummed silently. He glanced at Yura, who took out a picture of a tank. The imposter took it with a frown. " _What is this..?_ "

" _A gas tank with the word 'Rache' crafted out at the bottom_."

" _Revenge? Why would anyone- Is this the one that contained the poisonous gas?_ "

Ryuuichi nodded. " _Indeed_." The imposter gripped the picture tightly. " _How did you guys find it_?"

" _We didn't_." He gave them a weird out look. " _It came to us out of nowhere_." He laughed slightly, as though they had just said something stupid. " _How can that be possible? There's no way a tank can suddenly appeared in your room out of thin air_."

Ryuuichi smirked. He had just gave himself away. " _That's what we wanted to know, signore Zest._  Or should I say, Rave Cristhe." The imposter stuttered. " _What are you talking about? Who's Rave Cristhe? And how should I know about it?_ "

"Stop acting." He looked absolutely scandalized, but Ryuuichi merely stared at him in silence with a blank look. Seeing that his cover was busted, he chuckled. "As expected of you, Head of Giudizio."

"You seriously have a weird sense of humor."

"But that's what a jester have, no?" Ryuuichi raised an amused eyebrow. "Jester huh, so tell me. Why did you started a mass murder on the Pio Famiglia, and killed the Don?"

Rave scoffed. "For revenge of course!" He said in a rather maniac way. "The goddamn bastard ruined my life, so I ruined his back. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

"And you manipulated Gilbert into being your scapegoat." Rave shook his head, chuckling again. "Of course not. I merely asked him to, and he did. He was such a dear, obedient, even. You do know that he had killed his family with his own hands, did you not? And I didn't even tell him to do it!" Yuuichi had to restrain Gilbert when the man wanted to punch Rave as Rave laughed maniacally.

"Uh huh." Ryuuichi remained unfazed. "You didn't tell him. You merely turned yourself into him and killed his family in front of him. You used mind break and mentally scarred him. You convinced him that he was the one who killed his family when he breaks. A work of a psychopath and a twisted man."

Rave giggled. "So? There's nothing you can do about it anyway." Ryuuichi shrugged. "I sure can't. But they can." Rave shuddered upon the drop of temperature and turned around when he heard chain rattles. "Vindice." He hissed. "You called Vindice, to a mourning ceremony?!"

"Huh. So you do have some sensibility." Rave gritted his teeth and made a run for it. He didn't get too far, because Gilbert managed to catch him and threw him to the Vindice. Chains immediately wrapped around his neck. "Is that enough for a prove, Bermuda?" Ryuuichi asked the infant who sat on Jager's shoulder.

"Yes. Congratulation on clearing your name. I hope there's no more repeats. Farewell." Gilbert backed away slightly at how monotonous Bermuda sounded. The Vindice disappeared into the portal along with Rave, who screamed how he would hunt them, and he would torture them. Of course, there was no way he could do it. Even Mukuro can't, so how could he.

"Head." Ryuuichi turned to Gilbert with a confused look. Since when he called him as head? Gilbert pursed his lips and bowed. "Thank you. I'm sorry."

Ryuuichi immediately pulled him up, but Gilbert stayed in that position with a stubborn shook of his head. "No, listen.. I had always hated myself for being so weak. I hated myself for not able to save my family. I believed that I don't deserve anything but grief and death. But.. Thank you for snapping me out of it. Thank you for accepting me."

His voice faltered at the end, tears dripping down slightly. Ryuuichi smiled and shook his head slightly. He forcefully tugged Gilbert up and pulled him into a hug. "You're so silly. Of course I'll accept you. We'll accept you." Yuuichi sighed and patted the man on his back. Ryuuichi snickered a little and pulled his brother into a hug as well, hugging them both tightly.

"H-head- Can't breathe-" He laughed loudly.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Gilbert slumped onto the floor with a bunch of plastic bags in hand, full with what he needed such as clothes, shoes, formal attire and random stuffs. Yuuichi took one look at him and laughed. "I told you to buy what you need before Ryuuichi decided to buy everything for you." His brother tends to go overboard with buying things for them after all. Liu and Xena kind of learned the hard way as well.

Ryuuichi rolled his eyes at Yuuichi as he walked in, several bags in hand as well. "You're exaggerating."

"You know full well that I'm not." Yuuichi went to help Gilbert with the bags when Hibari, along with an eighteen years old teen arrived. Ryuuichi blinked at the both of them while Yuuichi stared at the teen. "Kyouya-" The said man immediately pulled him close and kissed him in front of the others. Yuuichi palmed his face while Gilbert and Yura gaped.

Ryuuichi turned red, but kissed back. Hibari finally broke the kiss as Ryuuichi panted. Ryuuichi hissed at him for that and punch him lightly on the chest. He pouted a little when Hibari refused to let him go, a hand around his waist. He huffed. "Mind telling me what's going on?"

"U-um, can I join your Organization?" Liu and Xena appeared from separate direction, one from the kitchen and another from the stairs. Yura fidgeted upon the stares from everyone.

Ryuuichi tilted his head. "Are you sure? You do know this is the mafia, right?" Yura nodded, eyes suddenly filled with determination. "Yes. I'm clearly disown by my family, so I'm going rebel." Yura had been thinking about it for a week or so. His family was prideful, known to be clean despite it isn't. They thought he was weak, and wanted to get rid of him. So, he would show him that he wasn't that easy to be rid of. He would show them that he's more than who they thought he is. They would know that they had made a mistake for throwing him out.

Ryuuichi hummed, somehow understanding what he was thinking. He smiled. "Welcome to the Giudizio, Yura. And welcome to the family."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna smiled apologetically at Ryuuichi as they walked to where the dining room is. "I'm sorry, Ryuuichi. You've just came back from a mission and.." Ryuuchi shook his head, patting Tsuna on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm alright. So when do I leave?" The brunette frowned. "If it's no trouble, as soon as possible. There was news that they would transfer to another base soon."

"Okay." Ryuuichi paused his steps for a moment. Tsuna tilted his head and blinked. He stared at the man when it clicked. A small teasing smile appeared on his face. "Hibari is in his quarters." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at the twenty-four years old brunette, quirking an amused look.

"You and your intuition." Tsuna chuckled and waved at him, walking away. Ryuuichi huffed a little and turned around, walking the other direction to the more secluded part of the Vongola Mansion. He wanted to see his lover for a while before he head off to France. And perhaps, see if he needed anything.

His shoes tapped silently against the wooden floor, traditional Japanese house style. He ignored the few rooms he came across and walked straight towards Hibari's room. He slid open the door.

"Kyouya are you-" He jerked back as his eyes widen. Pulling his lips thin, he turned on his heels and hurried away, speed walking, ignoring the call. The only thing he could remember, despite him not wanting to, was Hibari in his loose Yukata, pinning a naked girl down.

"Ryuuichi-san." He jolted to a stop before he bumped into Kusakabe. "Ah, Tetsu-san." He smiled at the man, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Are you visiting Kyou-san?" He nodded.

"Yeah, but it seemed like he's a bit busy. I'll be gone for a mission for probably a week or two. Please inform him." At Kusakabe's confirmation, he paced away. Kusakabe frowned. Ryuuichi looked so bothered even with the way he carefully controlled his body as he walked. He looked stiff to Kusakabe's eyes. Briefly wondering why, he went to find Hibari. The leader of the Foundation shouldn't be doing anything at the moment, seeing that he had cleared his schedule.

To his utter surprise, Hibari was running towards him with a scowl. "Tetsu." Kusakabe perked at the hint of panic in Hibari's voice, even his eyes were frantic. "Where's the small animal?"

"Ryuuichi-san? He just left on a mission." Hibari clicked his tongue, able to pick up the soft rumble of a car leaving the estate. Just how fast does Ryuuichi walked? He scowled and turned away. "Take care of the intruder in my room."

Kusakabe frowned again. Usually, Hibari would be the one who deals with intruders. He nodded and made a beeline to Hibari's room, where the door wasn't closed.

His eyes widen upon seeing an unconscious girl on the ground, with only a piece of cloth covering her bare body. He finally understood what happened.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Head." Liu called out as they boarded the private plane with bags in hand, full with weapons inside. It was Vongola's private plane, so they had no trouble passing through at all. "Vice messaged me that Hibari have been trying to reach you since the morning. Did you offed your phone?"

Ryuuichi squinted his eyes at the text message from Yuuichi as Liu held his phone up. True, he had offed his phone after leaving Vongola's estate. He realized that he was being childish and he should probably listen to Hibari's explanation. Hibari wouldn't possibly cheat him or anything, and he himself knew as well. Though, he couldn't bring himself to actually contact with his lover. Not when he was about to leave for a mission. And not when he didn't have the energy.

He really needed to clear his mind.

"Tell Yuu I'll keep it off during the whole mission.. And tell him to tell Kyouya that I'll talk to him after the mission." Liu raised an eyebrow at that but nodded, typing back to Yuuichi.. Ryuuichi blinked and looked back to the boarding area. "Where's Gilbert and Xena?"

Liu lifted his head and looked around. He twitched upon seeing Xena teaching some crude stuff to Gilbert at the very end of the plane, in the shadow. "There." He pointed at their direction.

Ryuuichi glanced over and sighed, palming his face. "Xena. What are you teaching Gil?" Xena jumped and quickly hid her phone behind her, averting his gaze. "N-nothing!" Gilbert tilted his head at that while Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes at Xena's behavior. Ryuuichi turned to Gilbert instead, asking him what the Irish had taught him.

"Wait don-"

"French greetings." Xena palmed her face and tried to sneak away, but alas, Ryuuichi stopped her with a pointed look. She pouted and stayed.

"Oh? Let's hear it." Gilbert looked uncertain, but he nodded. " _Branleur_." Ryuuichi did a double take and had to hold onto the wall as he rubbed his temple. Liu merely raised an eyebrow as he never knew French. Xena, on the other hand, snickered under her breath like a crazy person. Gilbert furrowed his eyebrows and exchanged a confused look with Liu.

"Um, Gil.. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"It means good morning, right?" Ryuuichi slammed his head onto the wall. "Dear god. Xena, please don't teach him the wrong thing. And stop trying to teach everyone profanities of sort."

"It's not even a profanity." He sighed. "It's still rude." Gilbert looked at them in confusion. "What are you guys saying?" Ryuuichi stared at him and deadpanned. " _Branleur_  means wanker. Good morning is  _bonjour_."

Gilbert blanked out for a moment before he flushed red. "Xena!" The said woman laughed loudly. "Sure cannot win against you, Head. Just how many language do you know?"

Ryuuichi shook his head at her antics. "About six? Or perhaps five since I've forgotten a lot on German." Liu sweated. "Just how many time do you have?" Ryuuichi quirked a smile. "A  _lot_." He chuckled a little and waved at them to be seated since they would be taking off soon.

Sometimes, he was really grateful for them for taking his mind off things, intentionally or unintentionally.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Who are you?" Kusakabe asked the now clothed woman as all her limbs were cuffed, his legs to the bed. She stayed silence, not even rising her head. Her face was shadowed by her long blonde hair, messy and a tad bit dull. She had regained conscious over an hour ago, and Kusakabe had came to ask her questions.

"How did you get in?" Vongola's security is not to be trifled with. Everything was surveilled by the technicians, every inch of the estate guarded and should be illusionist-proof. Minus Mukuro, Chrome, Fran and Mammon, since no matter what, they could never make a technology that could detect them.

Once again, she stayed silence. Kusakabe sighed and left her with a tray of food and water. He would have to question her again tomorrow. It was really late already, and he still need to warn Tsuna about Hibari's bad mood. He could literally feel it when he was about two kilometer away from the Cloud. Kusakabe sweated.

'The one who tames the beast is also the one who sets the beast on chaos, huh.'

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi pushed the transmitter onto his ear, clicking it in place as the others did as well. "Clear?" He spoke, covering slightly. The rest nodded and continued to put on their stuffs. Ryuuichi checked the magazine of his guns before clicking it back. He placed both of them on the holster strapped onto his shoulder. He strapped in the extra magazines around his waist and touched his bracelet slightly, smiling at the familiar presence of his partners.

"Now listen. There should be about five hundred of them inside, all armed and are good fighters. Do not underestimate a single of them and kill if you must. Be careful and stick together. Be aware that we could be watched at every moment. Those who gets injured, don't push yourself and retreat. Don't risk your lives. Gil, you'll be with Xena, Liu with me. Is there any questions?"

A collective no was heard. Ryuuichi nodded. "Alright. Liu and I'll go first, follow after a minute." With that, he, along with the Chinese, sneaked into open air. Ryuuichi had cast a shield over the both of them just in case there was snipers. The exchanged a look and counted to three before Liu pulled open the door.

The rest waited impatiently in the shadows, tensed as they counted down. Once a minute pass, they sneaked out.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Liu, I'll go to the leader first." Liu nodded and Ryuuichi ran down the hallway silently, reeling in his flames and presence. He stayed in the shadow, wondering why there weren't any bright lights. Unusual, since the details Tsuna gave him was that the factory was brightly lit even during the middle of the night. He paused. There was no one at all ever since their arrival. No guards, no nothing. 'Unless... They realized we were coming?' He narrowed his eyes and gripped his guns more tightly.

He continued his tracks to where the leader should be. Just as he was about to open the door, it slammed inwards even before he touched it. "Welcome, Head of Giudizio." He cursed mentally and sighed. It was a trap. The leader stood in the middle, looking absolutely smug as multiple and multiple of armed men stood around him, pointing their guns and weapons at Ryuuichi.

He walked in as a path was opened to him. "How are you enjoying the visit?"

"Not that much." Ryuuichi looked around him. "How did you gather all your men in this tiny space?" The leader chuckled. "Oh it's easy. Just clear out most of the junks and done." Ryuuichi hummed, a little bit impressed. Exactly five hundred and sixty-one of them.

"Well, I do have to ask, what brings you here?"

"Don Vongola found out that your men were selling drugs and are doing human trafficking. In addition, slavery." The leader mocked a hurt look. "I wouldn't. We wouldn't." Ryuuichi saw through it immediately and he raised a pointed eyebrow. The leader chuckled. "As expected of the Historian, huh." He sauntered near Ryuuichi as the younger narrowed his eyes. He grabbed the cheek and tilted Ryuuichi's face, staring.

"You do have quite a pretty face, you know? You should worth a few millions." Ryuuichi swatted his hand away and leaned back. The man smelt of tobacco and while he was used to it because of Gokudera, he found it distasteful when it was from the man in front of him.

"And what makes you think I'll let you sell me that easily?" The man laughed loudly, as though Ryuuichi had said something stupid. "My my, do you still think you can win, Giudizio's head? Look closely if you must, you're surrounded! There's no way you can run. And your men, they're probably killed by the trap we placed as we speak."

Ryuuichi scoffed and rolled his eyes. "As if they'll die that easily. And.." A small, lazy smirk appeared on his face. "Who said we came alone?"

As on cue, a shark with blue flames came flying into the room, a few of the five hundreds died when they were sliced down. " **Voiii!** " A familiar voice bounced off the wall. "Are you scum ready to die?!" Gun shots echoed in the room along with the sound of knives flying around. "Ushishishi~"

Ryuuichi sighed upon seeing blood spills and yelled at the two Varia men. "Don't kill all of them!"

"Don't tell us what to do, Brat!" He twitched. Liu, Xena and Gilbert came running in and immediately started fighting. Maiming, rather than killing. Though, they did somehow accidentally killed off a few. "Thirty!" Ryuuichi paused. "Dammit- Twenty-eight!" Were they betting on who can take down the enemies more?

He rubbed his temple and turned back to the leader, who was panicking. "That, and I never said that I'll come as the Head of Giudizio." He raised his right hand and showed the Vongola Ring he wore on his pointer finger, an A-rank ring that Shoichi made. Shoichi really outdone himself, as the ring was able to withstand his flames without cracking. Ryuuichi was very pleased and grateful. "I came here as a Vongola."

He smirked again. "My condolence to all."

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Cheh. Too easy." Squalo clicked his tongue and flicked his sword after bringing down the last one, shaking the blood off the blade. "Oi brat! Hurry up and settle it or we'll leave you behind!" He and Belphegor stormed out of the room, leaving the members of the Giudizio with the last few survivors and the leader.

Ryuuichi wiped the blood off his cheek and grimaced a little, Gilbert healed Liu's bloodied knuckles up as Xena panted, having to overexerted herself. "P-please. Spare us-" He turned to the leader as he cowered slightly. "I-I've a daughter- Please-"

He frowned. "If you have a daughter, much more a family, then you shouldn't have done all these. Selling drugs, human trafficking, slavery, black markets, and selling organs. You've done all these for  _years_ , ruining people's lives, and you're telling us to spare you because you have a daughter?"

"N-no-"

"It'll be a death penalty for you and your men, but just simple death isn't enough.. Well.." They survivors paled upon the familiar sound of chains rattling. "I'll leave it to the Vindice." Desperate yells and plead were heard as they were taken away. Ryuuichi turned a blind eye from them and went to check on Xena, when the leader shouted.

"I curse you, Shiroki Ryuuichi! I curse you to never be free from your sin! I curse you to eternal darkness!"

He gave him a wry smile. "I've never been free from my sins before, nor my own darkness." More agonizing yells before silence fell between all of them. Xena frowned at Ryuuichi of his words. Gilbert and Liu looked as though they wanted to say something but didn't know what. Ryuuichi merely shook his head.

"Come on. Let's go find if there's any victims here. And the drugs." Xena and Liu went scouting the area first, checking every room they came across while Xena was a few steps behind them. Ryuuichi was about to leave the room last when Sora suddenly came out without consent. Ryuuichi blinked at the wolf. "Sora? What's wrong?" He patted the wolf, rubbing the ears slightly. Sora whined a little before trotting to a wall.

Sora sniffed around before toeing at a spot, whining and barking. Ryuuichi frowned and followed. He crouched down and patted the wolf to calm him down. "What is it?" Sora toed the spot again. Ryuuichi squinted his eyes at it and touched. He knocked it and it sounded hollow. He shifted to the other side and knocked on it again.

"Head, what's wrong?" Xena came back into the room when she realized Ryuuichi wasn't behind them.

"There's another room behind this wall..." He stood up and backed away, taking out his gun. He charged it up with cloud flames and aimed at the wall. He pulled the trigger and a cloud flame coated bullet hit the wall. The wall crumbled down and revealed a big, empty room. It was lifeless and cold.

They coughed at the dust as Sora trotted in. He circled around a lump, nudging it with his nose. He whined for Ryuuichi's attention. Ryuuichi hurried over and his eyes widen. It was a kid, skinny and pale with scars around his body. He was still breathing, thankfully, but he was cold.

Hypothermia, Ryuuichi deducted.

"Goddammit." He carried the kid up, noting how light he was. "Get Gilbert and Liu! We'll be leaving for the hospital immediately!" He quickly pulled off his coat and covered the kid with it. He pressed him against his body, rubbing his skin as to warm him up. He immediately ran out of the room, Sora following.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Slave. The kid was a slave, abused and tortured. Absolutely lack of nutrition and weak. The hospital had wanted to call in the police but Ryuuichi managed to stop them, that the one who did it had been dealt with. (They were a bit horrified, however.) There was others, all who the Varia's squad member that came as well had found, but none of them were as bad as the kid Ryuuichi found.

About the age of eight to ten, he would say. They had tried to find any of his family, or anyone with blood relation with him, but found none. An orphan, they say. Once he woke up, he would probably be sent to an orphanage.

Ryuuichi sighed and leaned against the back of the chair. That fact left a bad taste in . He didn't even know why. He knew Sora didn't like that fact as well, seeing that he has been wanting to pop out at every second.

Actually, he had came out just a moment ago, after the nurse left. The kid was attached to the machine, covered with heavy blankets and the heater on high, unconscious. He was having a high fever and it just broke. Ryuuichi stared at the ceiling, patting Sora, who took up the two other chairs beside him with his head on Ryuuichi's lap.

Now that there was nothing to take his mind of things, everything just hit him like a train wreck and was giving him a headache. First was this kid and what he would have to say to him when he wakes up. Second, Hibari.

It was funny how Hibari is the source of his endless happiness, yet is the source of his empty sadness. However, he wasn't sad at the moment. Confused, slightly angered, and insecure. While Ryuuichi couldn't bring himself to like girls because of his memories as one, he was well aware that he was no longer one and is a guy. It brought uncertainty of his place in Hibari's heart.

During his down days, he would wonder if Hibari would prefer a girl more, if Hibari would want someone who can bear his blood child. Each time, he would be reassured, but the thought still lingers. (Sometimes, he just hates his brain so damn much.)

Even so, Hibari isn't one to cheat, Ryuuichi knew that very well. If he had wanted to be with a girl, he would have told Ryuuichi and end everything.

Ryuuichi choked a shaky laugh of disbelief and hurt. He covered his eyes and tilted his head back. 'Dammit.. That hurt.' He sighed again. He seriously need to talk with Hibari. Sora whined a little and snuggled closer to him. Ryuuichi looked at the wolf and smiled. "Thank you, Sora." He turned to the kid. "What do you think of him?"

Sora huffed and nudged his no longer moving hand with his head. He pushed it to his nose and it affectionately. Ryuuichi chuckled and leaned down, nudging him on the nose. "You sure like him, do you not?" Sora barked in agreement as Ryuuichi shushed him.

"Quiet down. We can't have anyone walking in on us and see you." Ryuuichi smiled. He looked up from the wolf and stared into nothing, feeling slightly better. He blinked. "Where's the others?"

\------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari gritted his teeth and swung his tonfa down to smash Tsuna on the head. The brunette, barely able to dodge it, flew back as Hibari quickly followed. "W-wait Hibari!" The older man ignored the protest and kept attacking, frustration boiling in him. The intruder hasn't spoken for days and he couldn't contact Ryuuichi at all. Granted, Ryuuichi was probably feeling self-conscious now, and it was all because of Hibari's fault. He had the right to avoid him for a while.

But Hibari didn't meant to make him feel like that. That was the last thing he wanted to do, hell, perhaps never.

"Hibari!" He was brought back to earth upon the punch in the gut and he was thrown back a few feet away, still standing. He coughed as air was pushed out from his lungs, trying to get it back. He wiped his lips, realizing that he had accidentally bit it to the point it bleed. "Hibari, are you alright?"

He swatted away the brunette's hand when Tsuna wanted to help him and stumbled away. "I'm fine."

Anger flared in him again. Suddenly, the thought of Ryuuichi being unreasonable filled his mind. He snarled and attacked the brunette again, ignoring how Tsuna yelped in surprise. Ryuuichi should have stop and listen to his explanation, should've not jump into conclusion.

Ryuuichi should have trust him.

He stopped in midst of his attack and left without a word. Tsuna frowned in both confusion and worry. It seemed like he need to ring Ryuuichi up.

\------------------------------------------------------------

" _Ryuuichi. You're an idiot._ " Ryuuichi yawned and stretched, Liu's phone in hand and against his ear. "You called me in the middle of the night just to say that I'm an idiot? Thank you very much, because apparently, I didn't know of that fact well enough." He couldn't help but be sarcastic. He was dead tired and exhausted, and all he wanted was to sleep for a thousand years and Liu had to wake him up because Tsuna had called just to say he was an idiot.

He could not.

" _Do you know how Hibari's suffering right now?_ " His jaw locked and hands clenched tightly. " _I know you're probably hurt because of something he did, but you could at least call him, you know? He almost killed one of his squad members for the sixth time during training today._ "

He sighed and ruffled his hair. "I know... I  _know_ , goddamit, but I want to talk to him face to face rather than on phone."

" _There's skype._ "

"In goddamn physical form, Tsuna. I don't give a damn about video calls, and you know that." A sigh was heard over the phone. Tsuna spoke again, in a more softer, exasperated tone. " _I'm sorry, Ryuuichi. You're probably hurting as well.. I shouldn't even interfere in your relationships but he's hurting so badly. He's overexerting himself in the span of less than a week. That wasn't even possible until now._ "

Ryuuichi's heart clenched. Of course Tsuna would know that Hibari's in pain more than he does. Tsuna is his Sky, not him. Ryuuichi bit the bottom of his lips. He wasn't jealous of Tsuna, actually. He merely envied how their bond works. He could feel Hibari on the other side, but it wasn't as good as Tsuna's. That, and Tsuna's hyper intuition.

He took a deep breath and heaved. "I'm sorry for all the trouble, Tsuna."

" _Ryuuichi, that's not what I meant-_ "

"I know. But it's just that, I need some time..." Tsuna stayed silence. "I... Look, there's this kid. He was a slave. He had hypothermia when we found him, and is unconscious in the hospital. There was something about him that made me restless if I were to leave now."

"...  _Are you going to bring him into the mafia? A_ kid _?_ "

"Hell,  _no_. Or.. That was what I think. I'm not sure. Besides, he has a choice. I can't force him."

" _Ryuuichi.. Please don't do something you'll possibly regret._ " Ryuuichi let out a weak laugh and tilted his head down. His hair shifted and shadowed his face. "I hope I won't.." After a few apologies of disturbing his rest and such, the call ended. Ryuuichi handed back the phone to Liu as the Chinese glanced at him with concern.

Ryuuichi sighed and rubbed his temple, trying to ebb the headache away. "Are you alright, Head?" He waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He wasn't.

He stood up and grabbed his coat. He didn't bother to tie his hair up and wore it, walking out of the room. He paused for a moment and looked at Liu. "Do you want to join me for a drink or two?"

\------------------------------------------------------------

"Sometimes, I really think that I'm a goddamn idiot. I'm already having a headache, and I'm trying to get myself a migraine for tomorrow." Ryuuichi scoffed and downed the glass of cider. Liu stared in both awe and uncertainty at how much Ryuuichi could drink. That was already the ninth glass and Ryuuichi was still calling for another glass. Well, Cider doesn't have that much alcohol in it compared to  _sake_ , but still.

Liu wasn't drinking, only a cup of tea since he needed to be sober for Ryuuichi. And honestly, he felt like he didn't even need to do that, because Ryuuichi looked absolutely sober, like he didn't even drank nine- _ten_  glass of alcohol at one go.

"Head.. I think you have enough." Ryuuichi looked to him, holding the eleventh glass. He sighed. "I guess." He downed the last one and paid. They made their way out of the club, and Liu was pleasantly surprised that Ryuuichi could still walk straight. He scrunched his nose. "You sure can drink, Head."

Ah, no. Ryuuichi was definitely slightly drunk given the way he couldn't control his laughter. "I just so happen to have a high alcohol tolerance. Well, not as high as Xanxus, but still considerably high. Funny how things works because Kyouya is definitely a lightweight. When he's drunk, he's so insufferable. But ya know, I find it bloody adorable. Minus the fact he'd try to molest me in front of others, but still. Adorable as heck."

Liu sweated as Ryuuichi kept rambling, most of it were about were about Hibari, he realized. Ryuuichi sure loves Hibari, Liu mused. He wondered what happened to the both of them, however. Ryuuichi was good at hiding his emotions, but Liu, and definitely the others, could see how down he was. And they say Ryuuichi is emotionless and cold. What a bunch of bullshit.

When they reached the hospital, Ryuuichi was silence once more. Eerily so. Liu led the both of them back to the kid's room and found that Xena and Gilbert were both awake, staring at them. Gilbert raised an eyebrow, having to pick up the smell of alcohol. Ryuuichi grunted at them and took up a corner, sitting on the chair. Somehow, his animal partners popped out of nowhere and surrounded him.

He fell asleep almost immediately. Liu merely shook his head.

\------------------------------------------------------------

The kid finally woke up after five days. Ryuuichi had stayed beside him as the others went sight seeing. The doctor had done a small check up on the kid before leaving them alone.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Ryuuichi asked softly as the kid blinked up at him. Confusion was clear in his eyes. Ryuuichi smiled softly and stroked his head gently. Upon his touch, the kid finally remembered everything. All the torture, all the screams and pains. He recoiled at the touch and tried to inch away from Ryuuichi, eyes closing in fear.

Ryuuichi frowned slightly but took his hand away. He held them up to indicate that he meant no harm. "It's okay." He said. "Everything's okay. It's all over. You're save now. You're free." The kid's eyes snapped open and he timidly turned to Ryuuichi. "I-it's over?" He croaked. Ryuuichi smiled again and nodded.

"It's over." Tears sprang out from the kid's eyes and he wailed, albeit softly. Ryuuichi merely sat there as he watched the kid cry, silently comforting him. Sometime after, the kid had fallen asleep from all the crying, tired. Ryuuichi pulled the cover up to his chin, stroking the teal hair. He watched over how relaxed he was, finally able to escape the darkness. Heavens forbid he bring him back to it.

Ryuuichi scowled.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't much of a surprise when the kid stuck to Ryuuichi after he was discharged from the hospital. They brought him to the hotel they were staying, buying him some clothes and footwear just because. (For relieving stress as well.) The kid, Eliot (After countless of tries when Xena asked and once from Ryuuichi), was wary of most of them except for Ryuuichi.

Though, he was slowly opening up to them. He was still timid and soft spoken because of what he had been through, but at least he doesn't look that much scared of them now. Ryuuichi shook his head in exasperation when Xena- and Gilbert in lowkey- cooed over him as she handed him a cup of hot cocoa. He leaned against the headrest of the bed.

He pulled out his phone, which had been offed ever since the beginning of the mission and stared at it, contemplating. It  _has_  been over a week, he should on it already since they would be going back the next day.

Speaking of which..

"Eliot." The said kid perked up as Ryuuichi gestured him to come over. He placed the cup onto the table and trotted over to Ryuuichi in a rather adorable manner. He sat down in front of Ryuuichi on the bed and waited. "There's something I need to tell you." He turned nervous at that as the others stayed silent.

"You know we're the mafiosi, right?" He nodded slowly. "We'll have to return to Italy tomorrow. You'll have to get into an orphanage, or we'll look for a-" Ryuuichi stopped short when he saw tears falling from Eliot's eyes.

"A-are you going to sell me off?" His eyes widen. "I-is it because I did something wrong?"

Ryuuichi immediately pulled him into a tight embrace and shook his head. "No no no. It's not like that. You did nothing wrong. You're free now. You can start anew and live a better life, with a family."

"I don't want to... I want to stay with you guys.."

Ryuuichi pulled him away slightly. "Eliot, we're the  _mafia_." He stressed, emphasizing the word. "We're the one who brought you all the darkness." Eliot dived for his chest and shook his head against it. "No. They did, not you guys. You guys saved me. Please don't throw me away.."

Ryuuichi felt his shirt wet, but he paid no heed to it. He rubbed Eliot's eyes as he tilted his head up to look at him, wiping the tears away. "Eliot, do you know what you're saying?" The said child nodded. "Yes."

The older sighed and pulled him closer. "Alright then.." He hoped that he had not made the wrong choice for allowing Eliot to join them.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi gazed at the sleeping Eliot, holding the pillow tightly. He closed the large sliding window to the balcony and breathed in the night air. There was no stars, the sky clouded. He stared as he leaned against the cold glass. He pulled out his phone again and stared at it.

'Should I..?'

He bit his lips and sighed for the nth time. He booted it up and instantly, it beeped loudly for almost a thousand times. Well, not exactly a thousand times, but it seemed like it as Ryuuichi was surprised. He peered at Eliot and sighed in relief when the kid didn't even stir.

He silent it and sweated at the amount of mails and miss calls, most from Hibari while some from Tsuna and his brother. He clicked open Hibari's mail and read all of it. Most were short, telling him to call him back and some were apologies of sort. One of it was an explanation, seeing that it was longer. He didn't read that. He felt guilty.

Pursing his lips, he hesitantly typed a reply saying that he would talk to him tomorrow. His thumb lingered on the 'send' button a moment before pressing it. He locked it up and put it back into his pocket. He leaned his head over the window and closed his eyes.

Somehow, he really missed Hibari despite everything.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"W-where are you going?" Ryuuichi blinked at Eliot, who tugged at the hem of his shirt when he was about to walk the other direction. He smiled and patted him on the head. "I'm going to find someone. The others will bring you to our home first- your new home." Xena grinned and showed them a thumbs up. ("I'm driving!" "Oh hell no Xena, you're  _not_  driving!")

"You'll be there right..?" Ryuuichi nodded. "Yep. I'll after I settle some things."

Eliot nodded slightly and let go, but not before hugging him. He hurried over to Xena and Gilbert's side, waving at him as they walked out of the airport. Ryuuichi ruffled his hair slightly. '.. Did he grow attached to me in the span of four days?' He chuckled nervously under his breath and walked the other direction. He'll have to walk to Vongola's mansion. It wasn't as though he had never did it before anyway.

However, the thought of walking was thrown out the window as he saw Hibari by the exit he was heading to, looking for him in the midst of the crowd. Ryuuichi stopped his track and blinked. His heart leaped before dying. He clenched his hands in the pocket of his coat and walked over.

Hibari spotted him as he was in his earshot. "Hey." Ryuuichi greeted softly, almost reluctant. Hibari stared at him silently as Ryuuichi refused to meet his eyes. The older man nodded at him before turning around wordlessly, speed walking out to his car. Ryuuichi pushed down the pain and followed.

Hibari drove the both of them to Vongola estate, knowing that Ryuuichi needed to report to Tsuna. It was silent during the whole trip. Ryuuichi hated the silence. It wasn't how it used to be. He was tempted to actually scream bloody murder for no reason. Actually, he was, internally anyway.

"I'm sorry." He blurted out before he could stop himself. "I'm sorry for all that." He was referring to how he ignored Hibari's call and all, for not listening to him. Hibari was still silent as he slowed the speed slightly. Ryuuichi bit his lips. He deserved that anyway. However, what surprised him was that Hibari actually stepped on the gas and turned sharply down a secluded, dark alley, big enough for the car to drive down. Ryuuichi yelped when his head hit the window at the sudden turn, and grimaced at all the honks.

"What is wr-" His words died down when Hibari pulled the seat belts off and moved to his seat, looming over him as he kissed him desperately. It was hard and bruising, the kiss. Ryuuichi couldn't help but moaned when Hibari bit his lower lips, easily dominating the open mouth kiss. They broke off when the need for air was too much, panting. "W-what?"

"I'm not sorry." Hibari muttered on his lips upon seeing the blood, it before kissing him again. Only, in a more gentle manner. Ryuuichi gasped into Hibari's mouth as his hands clenched onto Hibari's shirt, bunching it up. He knew Hibari was referring to his lips, but his mind strayed.

"I did nothing with that woman. I don't even know her." Hibari said in between the multiple kisses he gave. Ryuuichi was getting dizzy at the lack of oxygen as Hibari left his lips to kiss him on the neck, sucking. "I love you and only you, Ryuuichi. I only want you." He said breathlessly and bit down hard, breaking the skin. He lapped the blood up and returned to kissing him on the lips.

Ryuuichi couldn't help but let out the tears he had been holding back. "I'm sorry for not listening. I believed that you didn't, but I can't... I'm sorry.. I love you." Hibari the tears up, Ryuuichi's eyes fluttered close. He reached over to the seat and pulled the lever, pushing the back rest back. Ryuuichi blinked in surprise when he was lying horizontally.

"W-wait what-?" Hibari growled and pulled Ryuuichi's shirt apart. "O-oi you want to do it here?" He trailed kisses and bite marks from Ryuuichi's collarbone down his chest, eliciting soft gasps from the younger. "Kyouya-!" He pecked him on the lips, rubbing his cold hand against the skin. "It'll be alright."

Ryuuichi bit back another moan and huffed, pulling Hibari down to lock their lips again. "F-fine.."

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari smiled softly at the unconscious man, exhausted. He cleaned the both of them up and pulled his long coat over Ryuuichi's body. He caressed his cheek gently before turning on the engine. He drove them out of the alley and back to Vongola mansion. Ryuuichi remained asleep during the whole trip even as Hibari picked him out from the car, making sure that his coat was covering his body properly.

"Kyou-san-" Kusakabe's words died in upon seeing Ryuuichi in Hibari's arms. And his bare legs. He could help but flushed a little. Kusakabe coughed and looked away from Ryuuichi. Hibari gave him a pointed look, silently telling him to talk to him later and walked in, heading to his bedroom.

He placed Ryuuichi onto the bed and was about to hit the shower, when he noticed that Ryuuichi was holding onto his shirt tightly. He chuckled silently and gave in, slipping under the covers with him. Ryuuichi, almost immediately, snuggled up to him, burying his face in his chest. He threaded his fingers into the dark brown hair, rubbing the scalp slightly. Hibari still love him, and he'll always love him, just as how Ryuuichi could never leave him.

( _"I love you, Kyouya- Ah- Please--" "I love you too, forever."_ )

Supposedly, fate liked to toy with them. Hibari wanted to bite fate to death, but he was thankful. Because their feelings increased more than they realized.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

She had been silence for almost ten days, apparently. It wasn't even her highest record. She could stay silence for years and she wouldn't even miss talking. Food and drinks was given to her everyday, as they had wanted to keep her alive. The man with pompadour would ask her the same questions every single day. How she got it, and why.

She never answered him.

Just as she thought it was him again, she was wrong. Instead, it was the man she saw on the first day she was here, wearing a black turtleneck. He blinked upon seeing her chained and frowned at someone by the door. He scoffed and kicked the door shut, seeing that he was holding a tray of food. "Are you alright?"

Ah, strange. A different question. She stayed quiet as he placed the tray on the small table. Ryuuichi didn't even mind. He merely reached forward to her and unlocked the cuffs on her hand. She glanced up at him in confusion. "I don't know how, or why you did that, but I don't think you deserve to be locked."

He moved onto her legs. "Your father is Cheney of the Minu gang, right?" She stiffen as he stood up and pulled the chair nearer, sitting on it. "He was the one who told you to sleep with one of the Vongola's guardian, no?" Again, another bullseye seeing how she jerked to meet him in the eyes.

"He's imprisoned. I don't know if he's dead or alive, but he has been taken away by the Vindice."

".. What?" She finally spoke, although, it sounded more like a croak. "Why?" "Years and years of offenses; human trafficking, drugs, black markets, slavery. You know." She lowered her head. She knew, obviously. Her father was the one who told her to sell her body. Her father was the one who told him to infiltrate Vongola mansion, and sleep with one of the higher officers. Just so they could have Vongola as a permanent ally and back-up if anything happens. Neo Vongola Primo is famous for his kindness after all.

She hated all that and never liked him, but he was still her father. He was the one who single-handedly raised her up. She obeyed.

Now with her father in prison, possibly dead, she had no idea what to do with her life anymore. Ryuuichi, as though understanding her turmoil, hummed. "Do you wish to start anew?"

She looked at Ryuuichi again. "To live a new life as a civilian, or to stay in the mafia, it's your choice. I can lend a hand if you want." She frowned slightly. "Why?"

"'Why'?"

"Why are you helping me? I.." Ryuuichi chuckled. "I've no idea. What you did was because of your father, and a mistake from you was to choose Kyouya. But well, we're all humans, we make mistakes. If you wanted to stay in the mafia, specifically Vongola, Tsuna would perhaps give you a chance, I'm not sure. You'll have to talk to him on that part. If not, you can join my Organization, I've no problem with it. Or if you wanted to be a civilian with no ties with the mafia-"

"Is-" He paused when she interrupted, not minding it. "Is it really alright..? For me to.." He blinked at the question and smiled. "Of course. A second chance will always be given to those who deserves it." 'Yet a second chance could only do so much if they does not make use of it fully.'

"I.. I never wanted to join the Vongola.. I don't really like Vongola.." Now that he remembered, Vongola Nono once planned an attack on her father's gang. It didn't happen, since when they planned it, Tsuna had shot that idea down and left it too rot. Perhaps she knew of it, and was scared, because in the mafia, forgiving never really exist. Until Tsuna when the brunette took up the role.

Ryuuichi tilted his head. "You didn't want to become a civilian?"

She shook her head slightly, looking down at her lap again. "I can never forget what I've done and being through. It'll always follow me. I don't deserve to be a civilian, even if I do get a second chance." She gripped her hands together tightly. "I... I heard that you protect the law.."

"Ahh, not exactly. The one who fully protects the law is Vindice. We only make things more easy to breath. We do help Vindice sometimes, which was why we did so many research."

"Can I- Do I deserve to even follow you guys?" She was getting more nervous when Ryuuichi stayed silent. "Hey, look at me." She slowly did as told at the blank words, expecting him to be angry. To her utter surprise, he was smiling at her. "Now phrase it again and look at me as you did."

She breathed in deeply. "Can I join you?"

His smile widen as he reached his hand out for her. "Of course. Shiroki Ryuuichi." She hesitated for a moment, a bit scared to touch him but slowly did as he waited patiently. He shook their hands. She took another breath and mentally threw away her dead name. "Ivy."

He only looked more pleased.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi rolled his eyes at Hibari's antic as the older voluntarily drove him and Ivy to the Giudizio mansion. He was growling and snarling at her the moment Ryuuichi let her out, only to quiet down slightly when he explained that she was their newest member. Hibari ended up sulking, however. Doesn't seemed like it with his usual cold stare, but he was indeed sulking. Ryuuichi stifled a chuckle and wondered why Hibari disliked her so much. Well, other than what had happen, of course.

Then, it clicked. "You're a Mist, are you not, Ivy?" She turned away from the window and nodded at him. Hibari's grip tighten on the steering wheel, seemly wanted to growl in distaste. "No wonder." He meant by both things. "Vongola mansion's security was down that day since Shoichi, Spanner and Giannini were doing some fixing, so even an amateur illusionist could pass through without a hitch."

She blinked. "There was security?" Ryuuichi stared at her blankly. Hibari did growl then. "I'm going to kill those herbivores and increase the security." Ryuuichi silently prayed for the Vongola's technicians' lives. (Somewhere, three men shuddered.)

Hibari pulled up by the gates as Ryuuichi immediately skipped into the mansion, Ivy following shortly. She was a bit wary of everything, but nonetheless, excited and nervous to meet the rest of the Giudizio members. She wondered if they would accept her.

Ryuuichi had not expect a kid of ten to barrel onto him the moment he stepped into the house, however. It was only Ryuuichi's reflexes that he was able to stay up straight. "Eliot?" The kid immediately hid behind his legs as a voice echoed from upstairs. "Eliot~! Come here! There's still another costume you need to try!"

Ryuuichi gave Xena dead eyes when she popped out with a lacy dress in hand. She 'opps'-ed and quickly hid the dress behind her. She blinked when she spotted Ivy behind Ryuuichi, watching everything with confusion.

"Head! Who's that?" She asked as she hurried down to where they were. Ryuuichi turned to Ivy and gestured her to step forward. "This is Ivy. She'll be one of us from today on. Ivy, this is Xena. Supposedly your senior in work aspect since she's the first member other than my brother. Though, I find you more matured than her."

"Hey! Don't say something like that!" He chuckled. Xena bounced over to Ivy and squealed. "Finally, a girl! We're going to best friends! Can I show her around, Head?" She gave him a pair of puppy eyes that he was totally immune to it. He chuckled again, patting Eliot slightly. "Sure, if you leave Eliot alone from the dresses and all."

She cheered and immediately brought Ivy away. Ryuuichi could only shook his head in exasperation. "Ryuuichi, who's this?" Hibari came up to him and Eliot, not even trying to hide the fact that he was staring at the kid. Eliot tried to hid himself more behind Ryuuichi's leg, latching on. "This is Eliot, another new member of our little family." Ryuuichi laughed at his own joke. "Eliot, this is my lover, Hibari Kyouya."

Eliot scrunched his nose at the word, not understanding it. "Like, married?" Ryuuichi blushed at the sudden question and sputtered while Hibari smirked, immediately liking the kid. "Yes." The older said. Ryuuichi socked him in the arm, still couldn't speak properly. They weren't engaged or anything, but their relationship could surpass even an old married couple. Hibari was damn smug of it.

Eliot tilted his head, finding Hibari not that scary. He moved out slightly to properly look at Hibari. "Okay." Ryuuichi palmed his face, trying to calm his burning cheeks and sighed. There was no point arguing with a kid. And, he had to admit that it was somewhat true. "Eliot, why don't you tell Liu that he would be cooking for two more people?" Eliot looked a bit reluctant to leave Ryuuichi's side, but hurried down the hallway.

Hibari was still smirking at him. Ryuuichi huffed, a soft red hue on his cheeks. He couldn't help but crack a smile, as Hibari leaned his forehead against his, kissing him on the lips.

(No matter when, no matter what era and regardless whatever, they'll still love each other.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DIED! THIS CHAPTER IS SERIOUSLY A MONSTER! I TOOK MORE THAN FIVE DAYS AND MORE THAN THREE SEPARATED DRAFTS TO FINISH THIS THING. UGH. 
> 
> Fun Fact= The ceremony was held in Italy, Vongola Mansion. BTW, they were all eighteen there, minus a few others. 
> 
> *cough* Hibari and Ryuuichi did did that.
> 
> Note= Xena and Ryuuichi met when they were both 21, three years after Nono mentioned about her. Ryuuichi was 22 while Liu was 24.
> 
> Shao Ye means Young master in Chinese. Long Yi is the literal translation from Ryuuichi's name.
> 
> Second Sino-Japanese War is supposedly the World War II, according to Wikipedia. I'm not sure.
> 
> Fun Fact= Ryuuichi, when too socially exhausted, can be depressed most of the time. Hibari knew, so he comforts him whenever that happen. Another thing, Ryuuichi's home is actually Hibari. *smirk*
> 
> Gilbert was 29 while Ryuuichi was 23, Yura was 18. They joined on the same year. Ryuuichi met Yura during the month break he and Hibari had.
> 
> Rache meant revenge in German.
> 
> Ryuuichi can be harsh and cruel at times, hence the cold water thing and the.. Tooth pulling. Yeah. He doesn't do it always though. Very rarely.
> 
> Fun Fact= The trust between Hibari and Ryuuichi is beyond what they realize, but Ryuuichi's insecure. Usually is whenever he was exhausted. Like, Ryuuichi is actually fragile and weak underneath his iron armored heart. *nod nod* It just that the iron cracks a little each time he overexerted himself and Hibari would heal it up :3
> 
> There's not much climax to be honest, but damn it if I were to write any longer, I'm going to die. 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	79. Hold Me Close As We Drift

Yamamoto wheezed out a laughter as Gokudera gawked. Lambo 'eep'-ed and immediately ran away the moment the smoke obscured their sight. "Stupid-cow! Come back here-" Yamamoto had to restrain the bomber while avoiding the punches aimed at him. "Calm down, Gokudera! I'm sure that he didn't mean it."

Gokudera clicked his tongue and pushed the taller man away. "Ryuuichi?" He called out, waiting for the smoke to disperse. And when it did, he and Yamamoto had the shock of their lives. Instead of an older Ryuuichi, it was a toddler with dark brown hair. Large clothes that Ryuuichi was wearing, before he was hit by the accursed bazooka, pooled around him as the toddler blinked up at them.

He took one look at their frozen state, another at his surroundings before bursting out into tears. The two jumped at the loud wails, realizing that the toddler was scared. Of what, they had no idea. Yamamoto immediately bent down and picked him up, cooing and trying to get him to stop crying by holding him up high. "There there!" It only made it worse, as the toddler cried even harder, clearly disliking it.

"-Ch! Give him to me, idiot!" Gokudera snatched him away from the taller man's grasp and fidgeted. He was still crying, much to Gokudera's dismay, but the thought of holding a kid Ryuuichi was too much for him. That, and he actually had little to no idea how to pacify a toddler.

He blinked. There was something wrong. Ryuuichi was mentally older than them, and if he was to revert to a five years old, he should be matured.

"What's going on here?" They turned to Reborn, who came in with both of his hands in his pockets. His eyes narrowed at the crying toddler and gave the both of them a look and a raised eyebrow. "Did you both spawned a baby?" He walked forward and literally plucked him out of Gokudera's hands and held him properly, patting his back slightly. Gokudera turned a bit red and screamed about how males cannot give birth and that he and Yamamoto aren't an item. Reborn ignored him.

Reborn cooed a little, patting the toddler in a gentle way that the other two never knew he could do that. Instantly, the crying slowed to a stop, only a few hics. "So what happened to Ryuuichi?" Reborn asked, never taking his eyes off the toddler as he showed him a small and soft plush toy of a cat, moving it around. Dark brown eyes followed as grabby hands tried to reach for it.

"-nd males doesn't have eg-" Gokudera paused on his rants and turned to Reborn. "What?" The hitman scoffed and rolled his eyes, letting Ryuuichi grab the plush toy. "It was so obvious that he's Ryuuichi. And that stupid-cow was dashing a hundred kilometers per hour across the hallway." He pulled out a set of clothes, Ryuuichi's size and swiftly put it on the toddler.

Yamamoto was torn between wanting to stay put and avoid making Ryuuichi cry again, or just go ahead and coo at the adorable toddler. It was seriously nostalgic, seeing tiny Ryuuichi. Reborn turned to him and held Ryuuichi out to him. Ryuuichi ignored the movement for the sake of trying to mutilate the plush toy; failed.

"E-erh.. I think not? He's scared of us." They ignored Gokudera who jerked back slightly at the fact that Ryuuichi was scared at them. "No, he isn't. He's just scared of the fact he was in a foreign place."

Yamamoto blinked at the taller man. "Seriously?" Reborn shrugged. "He's a crybaby." Honestly, Yamamoto couldn't imagine Ryuuichi as a crybaby and gingerly reached out his hands to hold Ryuuichi. At that, Ryuuichi turned away from the toy and stared at him. Yamamoto stiffen and waited for the cry, to find that there was none. Ryuuichi merely returned to the toy as Reborn literally dumped him into Yamamoto's arms.

"Giannini and Spanner have been tempering with the ten years bazooka. Shoichi couldn't stop them. And it has been five minutes. He'll probably be stuck like this for a while."

"Who'll be stuck like what?" They turned to the door again to see Tsuna along with Hibari behind him. Tsuna blinked at the toddler in Yamamoto's arms and frowned. "What happened to Ryuuichi?" He ignored how Hibari zeroed his eyes onto the man and the toddler, tensing slightly.

"Lambo."

He nodded and walked to Yamamoto to look at the toddler, who was again, trying to rip the plush toy into pieces. What a cheerful kid. Ryuuichi looked up at him the moment he was in front of him, and did the same thing he did to Yamamoto. He stared with an unnerving look the way that it seriously reminded him of Ryuuichi. 'Yup. It's him alright.'

And then the gaze shifted to the one behind him, Hibari. Tsuna stepped aside and let the older man to take a look at him. Hibari reached out slowly to touch the toddler and see if he was real or that the pineapple pair had did something, when Ryuuichi, out of nowhere, dropped the plush toy that Yamamoto caught easily and grabbed the hand with both of his, smaller and softer hands than Hibari's.

Ryuuichi literally chomped onto the hand.

Hysterical laughter erupted from everyone except for the two, Yamamoto trying very hard not to shake Ryuuichi too much, as they stared at each others wordlessly. Only, Ryuuichi kept trying to slobber and eat the hand. Obviously, Hibari found it rather adorable, and it wasn't even the lest bit painful. Oh well. At least he knew Ryuuichi's a biter since he was young.

"Ryuuichi." The toddler stopped trying to bite the forefinger off and blinked. "Let go." He stared. And stared. And stared. Hibari merely waited. The others stayed in silence, trying not to cry in laughter again because of how ridiculous the situation was.

The toddler pulled the hand out of his mouth and let go. Hibari took his saliva dripping hand out of his reach and leaned back. "H-Hibari?" Tsuna hesitantly called out as Ryuuichi turned back to the plush toy again, squeezing it instead of mutilating it. Hibari wiped his hand with a tissue that Reborn gave, who was very amused and clearly getting blackmail materials, and froze a little.

Yamamoto immediately dumped Ryuuichi onto him. Hibari hissed at the taller man as he properly gripped onto the toddler. Yamamoto laughed nervously. "I've a mission, so he'll be in your care." Ryuuichi made a soft noise and shifted to make himself comfortable in Hibari's arms. He held the plush toy closer and snuggled into Hibari's chest, falling asleep.

Reborn snickered at how Hibari stiffen again. It'll be a show to watch for the time been. And imagine all the blackmail materials on Ryuuichi when he returned normal.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari took him back to his room, Ryuuichi asleep all the time. Honestly, he was bewildered by the fact that his lover had turned into a five years old, and he was seriously trying to control himself because of how adorable he was. And pale. The current Ryuuichi was already pale, he was even paler in his toddler form. Hibari could not.

He placed him in the middle of the bed and pulled the extra pillows on his sides just in case he rolled down the bed in his sleep. Ryuuichi can be quite a mover when he was sleeping. Ryuuichi made a soft noise when he was detached from Hibari, scrunching his nose slightly but remained asleep.

Hibari decided he needed some time alone to calm himself down from all that adorableness. He silently left the room, leaving Hibird to watch over the toddler.

About an hour later, Ryuuichi woke up to Hibird chirping in front of his face. He blinked groggily at the yellow fluff and pushed himself up. He looked around the large room and found everything unsettling. He didn't knew if it was because he was alone, or because everything looked so huge and seemed to loom over him.

His lower lip trembled as he gripped onto the plush toy tighter. Hibird flew to his slight and chirped, landing in front of him. It started singing the Namimori Middle school anthem and somehow, Ryuuichi calmed down. He poked the bird gently before stroking it. He giggled when Hibird chirped in a happy tone.

He looked around the room and decided it wasn't that scary anymore. He crawled to the edge of the bed and climbed down, stumbling as it was tall. He landed on his bare feet and he shivered at the cold wood. He tapped it a few times before started walking. He wobbled to the door like a penguin and stared up at the door knob. It was out of his reach by a few inches, much to his dismay.

He pouted and tiptoed, trying to pull it. It took him a while, but he succeeded. So he sneaked out, with Hibird pierced on his head and the plush toy in hand.

When Hibari came back, he was surprised to see the door ajar, and Ryuuichi gone.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi may reverted back to a five years old, but he still had the sense of direction and the ability to remember where he came from. Somehow. He walked down the long hallway, touching the wall as he go while staring at the pictures or any other decorations along the way. He didn't touch it, however.

"Small animal. Here. Here." Hibird chirped as it led the way. Ryuuichi wordlessly tilted his head and followed the bird, excited. Hibird led him to the garden, where a maze the size of a foot ball field was, with a fountain in its center. He could hear the water, soft and distant, but he could hear it.

He walked in despite finding the place creepy and scary, but he was okay. He has the bird to help him if anything happens. Hibird, once again, led the way to the center. Ryuuichi's eyes widen in awe at how beautiful the fountain was against the sunlight that shone from behind thin clouds. It wasn't that deep, the water. He reached a hand in and touched the water, only to pull back when he found it cold.

He giggled and touched again, repeating everything again and again until his both of his hands were wet, the plush toy on the ground. He played around as Hibird stayed on his head. Ryuuichi stepped into the water and ignored the fact that his clothes were wet, and splashed around. Hibird fluttered at the droplets of water that hit him.

He remained oblivious from the chaos that stirred in the mansion.

Hibari clicked his tongue and searched around the floor again, checking every crooks and cranny. Hibird wasn't around as well, so he presumed that the bird was with Ryuuichi. It would find him if something happened. But Hibird didn't find him. He didn't know if that was considered a relief, or not.

"Hibari! Still haven't found him?" Gokudera asked, frowning. He was the first person who Hibari bumped into when he was finding Ryuuichi, and immediately, every guardian in the house are to find the missing child. "No." The older man answered curtly a Gokudera scowled harder.

"Goddammit Ryuuichi." Gokudera swore to whoever is it, that Ryuuichi really,  _really_  likes to run around and be in MIA for who knows what reason. And when he did, he would tell  _no one_. Everyone has the same sentimental of wanting to chain Ryuuichi up to the one who was with him at the exact moment.

"I checked the attic, he's not up there." Yamamoto said when he saw them, jogging closer to them. Tsuna arrived from the opposite direction. I checked the basement as well, not there either."

Hibari clicked his tongue again. He should have locked the door. "Have you guys checked everywhere?" They turned to Reborn, who was unfazed of everything and pretty calm. "We have." Tsuna replied with a frown.

"Think again, Dame-Tsuna."

Hibari blinked. The garden.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

All was well when Ryuuichi was playing, until a few crows flew by and landed on the ground, few feet away from the fountain. They cawed as Ryuuichi stared at them. One of them was eyeing the plush toy. Ryuuichi furrowed his eyebrows and reached out to grab the plush toy immediately. He held it close to his chest.

"No."

The crows cawed again, two of them eyeing the plush toy. Ryuuichi backed away slightly, the water splashing against his movements. All of them stared at the plush toy.

And they attacked. Ryuuichi cried out and curled around the plush toy, refusing to give it to them. Hibird chirped loudly and fought against the crows. It was a bit of a lost fight, but it still did, defending the toddler. The caws of the crows and Hibird's chirped. Ryuuichi couldn't stand it.

He wailed loudly.

"Ryuuichi!" A tonfa flew pass Ryuuichi's head and hit the crows, missing Hibird by a few inches as Hibird flew back down onto the toddler's head. The crows cawed loudly and quickly flew away, a black feather landing on the ground. Ryuuichi had his head tilted down, still curling up. His body trembled slightly in fright, soft sobs were heard. Hibari hurried over, dismissing the fact that his shoe was getting wet and pulled Ryuuichi close.

"Shh, it's okay." He patted his back as Ryuuichi leaned closer. The toddler sniffed and grabbed onto Hibari's shirt tightly, trying to calm himself down. Hibari pulled away slightly to look directly into Ryuuichi's eyes. "What were you thinking, walking out here alone?" Ryuuichi flinched and averted his eyes. "S-sorry.."

Hibari sighed and embraced him again. "Don't make me worry." He felt Ryuuichi nodded slightly against his chest and smiled slightly. Hibird chirped at them as the man carried the toddler up and walked out of the water. Ryuuichi squeaked a little at the change of height and clung onto Hibari tightly. Hibari chuckled at that.

(Somewhere, Reborn chuckled evilly.)

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi had fallen asleep when the arrived Hibari's room, still holding onto the man tightly. Hibari shook his head in exasperation and changed him out of his wet clothes. He tried to pry his hands off his shirt but he couldn't do it without accidentally waking the toddler. He sighed and slipped under the covers, giving in. Ryuuichi immediately snuggled closer as Hibari smiled slightly. Oh well, at least it wasn't such a boring day.

The next morning arrived and Ryuuichi blinked himself awake. The first thing he noticed was Hibari was crushing him against his chest. That, and he was naked. He had no memories of what had happened at all, a gap. The last thing he remembered was Lambo and his bazooka- Oh.

It was probably malfunctioning or someone tempered with it.

He huffed and decided it was still early. He went back to sleep, rubbing against Hibari like a cat.

(Sometimes later, he was engaged in a cat and mouse chase with Reborn, with his gun out and shooting.)

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There would be times and times again that reminded Ryuuichi that Hibari wasn't made of titanium even though he hits with the strength of breaking one. Ryuuichi wordlessly checked Hibari's temperature and frowned a little. 39 degree Celsius. Quite high. He reached over the large bowl filled with ice water and took the cloth, squeezing out the water. He plucked the one on Hibari's forehead off and dumped it back into the ice water, no longer cold but warm, placing the cold one in replacement.

Hibari seemed to be relief at the cold cloth on his forehead, still asleep. Ryuuichi raised an amused eyebrow and smiled slightly. He took another dry cloth and wiped his lover's sweat away, carefully trying not to wake him up. It was a bit of a blessing that Hibari doesn't wake up as easily as he usually would when he has a fever. All because Hibari doesn't fall ill that frequent, which was why he would have it worst when he gets one.

It was no wonder that he needed to be admitted into the hospital years ago. At least, it wasn't that bad as before.

He looked at the clock and decided that he should find someone to make a porridge or something for Hibari. And the medicine. Standing up quietly, he walked out of the room and closed the door silently. He walked around the house, trying to find the others, anyone, in fact, but found none. Since they were in the Giudizio estate, there was no maid or butler. Or caretaker. And hell, everyone just had to be away on this time.

He pursed his lips slightly and sighed. He knows how to cook porridge, but the question was, would he survive this?

He went to the kitchen with his phone out, looking at the instructions online just in case. It seemed easy, but Ryuuichi knew better. Unless it's a beverage, he can _not_  cook at  _all_.

"Well, if I die, it would probably be the funniest cause of death." He was horrified by his own thoughts.

Shaking his head, he went to the rice container and took two cups of rice out, pouring it into the pot. He washed the rice a few times, as the instructions had said and poured out the water, only to refill it up to the required level.

He stared at the stove, and the rice cooker. "I rather not use fire.."

He trotted over to the rice cooker and plopped it in, setting it and let it cook. He mentally prayed that nothing would happen, as he really didn't want to buy another rice cooker.

When it was done, he was really  _really_  surprised. Because he didn't die at  _all_. Nor did the thing blow up. He, with a rather blank face, took some and ate it. It tasted like porridge. Instantly, he sparkled, couldn't stop the huge grin from forming on his face. He immediately took out his phone and took a picture of it, sending on to his brother with the caption of 'I didn't die!'

There was an instant reply, so fast that Ryuuichi almost jumped the hell out of himself. ' _Wait what? Are you cooking?!_ '

' _Yep! *peace* :3_ '

' _And there's no fire? No explosion? No nothing?_ ' Ryuuichi laughed. ' _Nothing at all expect the porridge. I. Just. Frigging. Survived. Dude._ ' He was practically skipping slightly as he walked around the kitchen to get the bowl. He scooped the porridge out of the pot and poured it into the bowl.

He placed everything in a tray along with two cups of water and some medicine. He carefully took the tray to his room. He pushed open the door just as Hibari had woke up. The older man turned to his direction, feverish. "Oh, you're awake." He made a beeline towards his side and placed the tray down on the night table.

He took the thermometer and measured Hibari's temperature again. It was still high, but at least it was better than before. "Where were you?" Hibari croaked out as he tried to push himself up. Ryuuichi reached over and helped, plopping the warm towel into the ice water. "Cooking."

Hibari gave him a blank look. Ryuuichi couldn't help but grinned brightly. "And you didn't die?" He rolled his eyes at that, still smiling. "Nope! Everything went well to my surprise. I doubt I would be able to do it again but still!" He took the tray and set it over Hibari's lap.

Hibari stared at it. It looked, normal. Which was a good thing. It wasn't burnt, nor there was any explosion for the last half an hour. Ryuuichi really did it. "Don't try and kill me, small animal."

"Oh come on. I tried it before I even got it out." He scooped a small amount with the spoon and ate it. Ryuuichi waited impatiently for his critique, or anything as the matter of fact. "It's good." He sparkled.

Hibari chuckled and patted him on the head. "Good job, Ryuuichi." He smiled softly at how happy his lover was. Even though his head was pounding and he felt really horrible, seeing Ryuuichi like this had somehow eased everything a little. (He was secretly glad that Ryuuichi was there for him when he was at his lowest, physically and mentally wise.)

He finished the food slowly, listening to Ryuuichi's random chatter about what he had found in the attic when he was cleaning. He almost laughed while swallowing the porridge as the memory of a Ryuuichi screaming bloody murder from the top of the house and jumping down from the roof like a monkey without any hesitation. All because of a cockroach. Hibari was there, and he had personally witnessed it. He had to say, he couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud right there, right then.

"Did I mentioned that I  _probably_  found a voodoo doll..?"

He paused and stared at Ryuuichi. "A voodoo doll." He deadpanned as the younger nodded, sweating slightly. ".. I should probably burn it.. Or ask Xena to do it. She seemed to like these kind of things."

Hibari nodded and ate the last of it. "Thank you for the food."

"Take your meds, Kyouya." He smirked. "Feed me then."

Ryuuichi gave him a pair of dead eyes and smacked him in the face. Well, not really. He merely just poked Hibari's cheeks. Hard. "Are you trying to get me sick?" He poked again. Hibari grabbed his hand and pulled it away slightly. "And here I thought you want me to nurse you when you're sick?" Ryuuichi poked him with the other hand as Hibari chuckled. "It was just a joke."

"I'm very well aware of that, Kyouya, since you are so adamant on not wearing the nurse outfit."

"Says the one who actually wore it." Ryuuichi blushed and squeaked in protest. "I was forced to?! And I'm pretty sure you were the one who made me wear that!" Hibari chuckled again, only to stop short and coughed. Ryuuichi frowned. "Take your medicine and rest, idiot."

Hibari snorted slightly, but did as told, plopping the bitter pills in and downed the cup of water. Once he was done, the tray was immediately set aside on the night stand, Ryuuichi forcing him to lie down. Hibari grunted at that and tugged Ryuuichi's hand. "Come in." He ignored the protest about how Hibari would be uncomfortable and all, and just pulled him down.

Ryuuichi sighed in exasperation but gave in. He immediately slipped into the covers next to Hibari and the older man automatically wound his arms around him, pulling him close. Hibari breathed out slightly, burying his nose in Ryuuichi's hair as the tie was pulled off. Ryuuichi's body temperature was so nice and comforting. In general, Ryuuichi's presence has been comforting for Hibari.

And it was the same for Ryuuichi.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari woke up to a flushed Ryuuichi trying to burrow himself into Hibari's pajamas. "What are you doing?" He grumbled and shifted, holding onto Ryuuichi's hands and looked at him in the eyes. Ryuuichi's eyes were half lidded, brows furrowed. "Digging? I dunno.." He slurred.

That was when Hibari realized that he was feeling fine and more  _alive_  than yesterday, and Ryuuichi's skin was hot. He blinked himself awake and pulled Ryuuichi's head down to his, leaning their foreheads together. Ahh, Ryuuichi got his cold. Hibari sighed and pushed his lover down on the other side of the bed, ignoring the whine. "Stay here." Ryuuichi whimpered at the temperature and jumped onto Hibari as the older man stood up.

Only, he missed and dropped onto the cold floor. Ryuuichi lied there, thinking about nonsense, and rolled under the bed. ".. Ryuuichi, get out of there this instant."

There was a pause, and a thud. "No." Hibari palmed his face and reached down to pull Ryuuichi out, not even fazed at the fact that Ryuuichi was flailing his hand like a mad man. He pulled his arms around his waist and held it there, Ryuuichi's face planted on his back. "Come on. Let's get you to bath first."

The thought of what they had said about outfits the night before came back to him. He dismissed that thought in split-second. It suits Ryuuichi, but hell for Hibari.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was silent, their drive. It wasn't awkward nor tense, but it wasn't that comfortable. Well, it wasn't meant to be comfortable anyway. Ryuuichi sighed as he stared at the empty road save for the very few cars they passed, sitting on shotgun while Reborn was driving. He was tempted to roll down the window and stick his head out, but with how fast Reborn was driving? No way. He still want his head to be intact until he dies, thank you very much.

"Did you and Hibari fought?" He blinked at the hitman, who still has his eyes on the road. "What?"

"That skylark has been cranky all week long and the others couldn't stand him, even that Blue Pineapple." Reborn said in a deadpanned manner while Ryuuichi choked out a laughter at the nickname Reborn gave to Mukuro. He shook his head and looked back onto the road. How long has Reborn been driving? How long has he being here?

"We didn't..?" Reborn snorted. "Sure you did. 99 percent of the time he's angry has something to do with you, directly or indirectly." Ryuuichi frowned. "But I'm sure we didn't, minus the fact that he has been quite sulky these days."

"Well, I'll enlighten you then. He's jealous."

"What for?!"

"Remember the ball a week ago that ended up with him banging you up to the morning?" He flushed a little. "Crude. I thought you're a gentleman."

"I am, but you rather me being myself whenever we're alone." He did said that, didn't he? When he was slightly drunk, because of Reborn. Though, he did meant it. "Really, did you remember that?"

"Yes," He drawled in exasperation. "What of it?"

"You were flirting with the other dons and donnas  _and_  random people." He turned towards Reborn like an owl. Reborn did turned to him with a blank look before looking back to the road with a sigh. "Of course you wouldn't realize it."

"I was  _flirting_?" Ryuuichi looked both horrified and scandalized. "Yes, you were." "B-but I was just being myself!"

"Yeah right you were." The hitman rolled his eyes. Trust Ryuuichi to not realize that he went autopilot when he interacted with other people. His apprentice is seriously an idiot sometimes. Actually, make that most of the time. Reborn couldn't decide if that idiocy is cute, or annoying. Tsuna's would be easier, as Tsuna is actually a hamster. Ryuuichi is more of a penguin. Or a two weeks old kitten.

Ryuuichi groaned and leaned back. "Even so, I don't think that he should be angry about it.. I mean, I didn't even did it on purpose, and I've no plan on leaving him for those people." He shuddered a little at that thought. Nope. Hibari is perfect for him. "He know that, of course, but his jealousy came with rage."

"Why?"

"Those people you flirted with? They were trying to get into your pants." Ryuuichi paled. "No." Dread dripped in his tone. Reborn nodded. "Oh yes. Really. Everyone noticed it. You're the only one who didn't." The younger groaned louder, burying his face in his hands and screamed in frustration.

"You don't have to tone down your flirt-not-flirt-which-you-were-totally-flirting. You're doing a pretty good job anyway, getting people to talk. Hibari won't like it, but there was nothing to lose anyway."

"For your side! You just wants drama and chaos anyway." The hitman chuckled, not denying it. Ryuuichi pouted and sighed again. "Looks like I need to talk to him.."

Reborn leaned forward slightly before settling back. "You do that later. Right now, we have some interviewers." He hit the brakes and the slick, black car skidded to a stop right in front of a police car, a traffic police with a machine in hand, and a pen. The window rolled down as the two of them looked at the police and said in unison. "Yes?"

"Y-your license please, you have.. Exceeded the speed limit." Reborn mocked a surprised look. "Oh? By how much?"

"..You went two hundred and ninety kilometers per hour." He frowned a little while Ryuuichi snickered. "Didn't break your record again, huh." He sighed. "You were distracting me." He ignored the younger and turned back to the traffic police. "Are you going to write me a ticket?"

"I- Yes-  _Yes._  Please give me your license." Ryuuichi leaned over to take a look at the traffic police. He hummed with a small smile. "You must be new, aren't you," He squinted his eyes at the name tag. "Paola?"

Paola backed away a little, looking absolutely jittery. "H-how did you know?"

Reborn shrugged. "You waved me aside. Your seniors wouldn't do that." Paola frowned. "Why wouldn't they?" He stiffen when the both of them gave him a pointed look. "Because we meant business." He was a little horrified at how they spoke at the same time, bearing the same type of face.

"W-what kind of business?"

Ryuuichi hummed again and finally stuck his head out of the window. "Hey Reborn, pass me the rifle." Paola gaped when the hitman pulled out a large, black rifle from the back seats and handed it to Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi took it and aimed, looking through the eye piece. And he pulled the trigger.

The loud bang and the sound of tyre bursting along followed by a crash made the officer jump, paled from top to bottom. "Really?"

"You wanted to catch him alive anyway." Reborn breathed out and got off the car, walking towards the smoking Mercedes meters in front. Ryuuichi grinned and put back the rifle after clicking the safety back to place. "Oh, right, sorry about that, Paola."

The man jerked back, horrified. He frantically reached to his walkie-talkie strapped onto his torso, wanting to call the authorities. "Don't bother. They won't care."

"W-wha-"

"... They're used to it. Which was why no one would flag us down whenever Reborn's on the road. As the matter of fact, no one flags any of us down."

"Y-you're the Cosa Nostra-" It came out slightly breathless as Ryuuichi nodded. "Somehow. But- hey. I thought I told you not to call them- Nevermind." Paola impatiently waited for the headquarters to answer and when someone picked it up, he panicked and blurted everything out.

" _Paola-? Stop- Shut up!_ " His mouth snapped shut. " _What's going on?_ "

"I- There's this two man- shooting-" Ryuuichi interrupted him with a rather cheery tune. "Hey Chief!"

" _S-signore Shiroki?! Is that you?_ " Oh dear god- was his Chief stuttering? " _Did something happened?_ "

"Nothing much. The usual, actually. Your newbie pulled us up when we're chasing this dude."

" _He did?! I'm so sorry-_ " Ryuuichi chuckled. "No worries. Actually, he's pretty good, he managed to not faint like the previous one when this happen." He laughed loudly. Paola remained confused for his life. "Though I must say, you guys seriously need to inform your newbies about this. It's a bit troublesome if this happens every time."

" _Yes, I'm sorry. We'll be sure to do that. I'm so sorry, signore Shiroki._ "

"'Sokay~" Paola walked further away from them and whispered harshly in a fast manner to the walkie-talkie. "Sir! What's going on!?"

" _Paola, you're a good recruit, and I really do not want to see you dead._ "

"Sir?!"

" _Do not mess with them, Paola. Signore Shiroki may be merciful, but do. Not. Mess. With. Them. Understood?_ "

"I- But- He- This-" Paola felt like his mind was going to break. He made a sound akin to a dying whale and finally managed to choke out a yes. The Chief broke the connection as Paola slumped beside the police car, half of his life gone. "Oi oi oi. Are you going to take him back with us?" He turned back to them and saw Reborn dragging an unconscious man, shackled and gagged, and literally threw him into the back seat of his car.

"He has information, and is still useful." Reborn closed the door and turned to Paola. Paola froze at that. Reborn stared at him before smirking. He tilted his fedora down and slipped back into the driver seat. The engine roared and the car zoomed around and away.

Paola fainted after sending an S.O.S to the headquarters.

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They arrived back at the Vongola mansion about an hour later, Reborn dragging the still unconscious man into the estate as Ryuuichi walked beside him, huffing slightly. "How am I going to talk to him?" The hitman shrugged. "Don't know. Seduce him and let him take you?"

Ryuuichi socked him on the shoulder as Reborn laughed. "Seriously! Any idea?" Reborn hummed for a while, thinking. He blinked as his eyes gazed to the hallway and smirked. Ryuuichi noticed the smirk and frowned, not liking it. "Reborn?" He turned to where he was looking at and blinked as well.The hitman unceremoniously dropped the man onto the ground and pulled Ryuuichi closer, an arm slipping around Ryuuichi's waist.

He tilted his head up and gave him a full-blown kiss, with tongue and all. Ryuuichi's eyes widen as he turned into stone. Reborn pulled away a full minute later, Ryuuichi gasping for air. He smirked and picked up the man from the ground, and walked away to Tsuna's office. He waved, not bothering to turn back to see the red face Ryuuichi was sporting. "Good luck."

Ryuuichi wiped his lips in a frantic manner and tried to calm himself down. He paled a little when he suddenly remembered Hibari. The Cloud surely had saw that. He snapped his head over to the hallway and saw Hibari's narrowed eyes. Instead of the older man confronting him, Hibari turned around and walked away.

Ryuuichi gaped as anger flared in him. So that damn skylark was going to give him a silent treatment? Ryuuichi wouldn't give him what he wants. He gritted his teeth and pulled his shoe off. With all his strength, he aimed his shoe and threw it at Hibari's direction. The shoe managed to hit Hibari at the back of his head and made him stop short in his tracks. He menacingly turned around to look at Ryuuichi, glaring in a way that would make even Gokudera shut up.

The younger merely stuck his tongue out while pulling at the lower lid of his eyes. "Idiot!" He toed of the rest of his shoe and socks in matters of split seconds and ran out of the mansion barefooted. He didn't care if he accidentally stepped on a nail, or a glass, or anything that would injure his legs as the matter of fact. He just didn't, for the thought of Hibari ignoring him hurts more.

He just realized that he was too damn attached to the skylark for his own liking.

He ran into the gardens and swerved off the track of running into the maze and jumped into the bushes to the small jungle-not-jungle, Hibari hot on his tail with his tonfa out. There might be a chance that he will die, or he will  _die_. Well, he would die anyway so why not get himself a triple death sentence.

He did not expect himself to get American Football tackled down onto the ground from behind.

They rolled on the ground a few times before stopping with Ryuuichi on his stomach and face planting on the ground, wincing because Hibari accidentally hit his the bones on the back of his shoulders. Or, perhaps it wasn't accidental. A feral growl interrupted his mental rant as a knee dug onto his back, making him groan. To think that having a sore back was bad enough. He cursed at Hibari as he gritted his teeth.

"Why did you throw your damn shoe, herbivore?"

" _Why_?! Because you're being childish, that's why!" Hibari's knee dug harder, a hand on the back of Ryuuichi's neck in a dangerous manner that reminded him of the different ways to snap someone's neck from behind. "How was I being childish? You're the one who's flirting with everyone. I'm just giving you the freedom."

Ryuuichi couldn't take it anymore. He used all his strength and pushed Hibari off his back. He turned around and threw a punch onto Hibari's face.

"I wasn't bloody flirting with anyone! It wasn't even intentional! Stop sounding as though I'm a horny slut who wants to get into everyone's pants when I've never even done it with anyone other than you, arsehole!"

"What about the hitman? You done it with him before. Why are you trying to lie?"

"We didn't do it you bastard!" Hibari's eyes widen at that. That was the first time Ryuuichi called him a bastard. Actually, that was the first time Ryuuichi ever calls anyone he's close with bastard. Ryuuichi bit his tongue to shut himself up and turned away from Hibari. He breathed in deeply to stop himself from crying. He didn't want to. In fact, if possible, he would never want to cry again. He never succeeded.

He and Reborn was close, yes, to the point Hibari would kill the hitman if not for the respect he has for him. There was once, that the both of them were drunk, which led to Reborn trying to do it with him. It never happened, because the hitman, for some reason that he was too intoxicated, fell asleep when Ryuuichi was going to stop him. Ryuuichi, being too tired to care as Reborn was knocked out on top of him, went with it and slept as well. Only in their boxers.

Like he had explained to Hibari when the older man found out, they were drunk from playing Never Have I Ever with Vodka. There was dares and all, which led to them being half naked. Ryuuichi wasn't sure if Hibari believed him, but now he know he didn't.

(He tried to reason with himself, that Hibari was too stressed from all the trips and research, and yet, he just had to be petty of it.)

He breathed in again. "Sorry." He muttered.

".. Why are you apologizing?"

"Because I lost my temper, of course.." He huffed and ruffled his messy hair, still not looking at Hibari. If the man wanted to believe that, he couldn't do anything about it. "No." A twinge. "I should be the one apologizing." Hibari pulled him onto his lap and held him tightly. "I was too blinded by everything. My apologies, Ryuuichi."

(Their flames danced, swirling, connecting, mixing and fixing.)

Ryuuichi gripped onto the back of Hibari's jacket tightly, burying his face on the crook of his neck. Out of impulse, he bit down onto Hibari's neck harshly, breaking the skin a little. He felt the man jolting slightly at the sudden pain as he bit harder. He released a moment later, lapping up the blood. He stared up at Hibari, who was frowning and gave him a stern look. "Next time, I'd do more than just that to show you that you're the only one."

Hibari blinked. A smirk slowly formed on his face as he leaned in closer. "I'll be looking forward to it then." Ryuuichi twitched at that.

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"I'm not your dating counselor, Hibari." Reborn deadpanned as he stepped on the gas. Hibari sat beside him, neither of them looking at each other. Hibari, on the other hand, was sporting a bruise on his left cheek. "I never said that you are."

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In another world, in another parallel world, where the Historian doesn't exist. In that world, Caelum lived as a citizen, only meeting Alaude and the others years after the expected time. In that world, Ryuuichi was borned with no memories, and only occasional fleeting dreams. He met neither of his friends until he and his family migrated to Italy, with the knowledge of the mafia since young.

"What are you thinking about, Ryuu?" He turned to his brother with a small frowned, arms crossed. The twins sat alone in the lounge room of Cavallone mansion after arriving two days later. Their parents were on a job, and their cousin was god knows where, but they heard that he was meeting his ex-tutor.

And from what they heard, the said tutor was an infant with crazy strong strength and a spartan. Ryuuichi sighed. "I was just wondering why were we both here, doing nothing."

"Uh, Dino-nii asked us to?"

"For what reason, however." Yuuichi shrugged. Ryuuichi twitched again. He was feeling unsettled. The nineteen years old teen's leg was jumping, twitching so much that he couldn't even stop it. He sighed again and abruptly stood up. "I'm going to take a walk around. You wanna come?"

"Um, nah. I'll stay here." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow. "Your penpal?" He shrugged as Yuuichi nodded and walked out with a wave. He closed the door shut and skipped around, exploring the place he never had the chance to. A few moments after he left, Dino came into the room with a group of teen, and a very tall, fedora man. Dino blinked at the lack of Ryuuichi's presence.

"Where's Ryuuichi?" "Out, exploring."

Behind the exasperated blonde, Tsuna looked around in confusion, wondering where the hell was Hibari.

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Ryuuichi hummed an English song as he skipped up the stairs to the upper floor. The place was absolutely huge, Ryuuichi had to memorize every section just in case he got lost. He cast brief glances over the pictures hung around the floor, avoiding the expensive vases and other fragile things placed around. Just as he turned a corner, he almost bumped into a man. He jumped back immediately and breathed out in relief.

"I'm terribly sorry-" He blinked at the raven haired man as Hibari stared. (For some reason, Hibari looked familiar. Probably from his dreams?)

And he suddenly attacked. Ryuuichi yelped slightly and ran away, Hibari chasing him with his tonfa out. Ryuuichi leaped down the floor, he came up from and sprinted across the hallway back to the room he came from. He might seek refuge there. He mentally thanked Yuuichi for always pulling him out for morning run as his stamina had never been better.

He practically ripped the door open and hid behind Dino, making the blonde a meat shield as Hibari, whilst baring his teeth with a smirk, tonfa out and glinting against the light. Tsuna attempted to shriek when Reborn shut him up with a slap over the mouth while Gokudera shouted at Hibari. Yamamoto tried to stop them both with Dino trying- and failing- at keeping Hibari at bay, Ryuuichi kept pulling his shirt tightly.

Hibari ignored all of them and stalked forward, very amused. "I'll bite you to death."

"Your kink is unnecessary!" He paused at that while silence fell. Yuuichi couldn't help but burst out laughing at how ridiculous the situation was, doubling over the sofa with his phone clutched onto his chest. Reborn couldn't help but smirked at that as well. Ryuuichi 'eep'-ed at the increase of murderous aura and immediately jumped out of the open window. Since they were on the second floor and Ryuuichi, again, being forced by his brother to participate the random parkour activities Yuuichi had went to, dropped and rolled up to a crouching position.

He ran away without even looking back. (It took a minute for everyone in the room to join Yuuichi in hysterical laughter.)

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For the next six months, Ryuuichi and Hibari had this silent competition of hide-and-seek slash cat and mouse chase. Ryuuichi had no idea what of him had interested the older to the point that whenever he followed Dino to Vongola mansion or Hibari paid a visit, Hibari would always wanted to fight him. He didn't want to, because he had seen Hibari sparring with Dino.

He just didn't know what in the seven hell that this was happening. (Yes, he finally knew the moment Hibari stopped chasing him and he, for some reason, got along with most of them without much problem. He was surprised as he was sure that he had hard time getting along with strangers.)

Just as always, he was running away from Hibari, whose famous tonfa was out. He had heard that the Cloud Guardian of Vongola Decimo was a violent and aggressive guy, but he had not expect him to be a blood-thirsty, kinky war freak. War, because he always leave destruction behind.

"Can you.." He gasped in a breath and shouted. "Stop chasing me already?! It has been half a year! And all you did was forcing me into a shrewd game of tag every time we met!" He climbed up the tree and sat on the highest stable branch when Hibari wasn't chasing him. He greedily suucked the much needed oxygen into his lungs, feeling slightly dizzy. He had to admit, that was the most exercise he did in his life in the span of half a year.

He was well aware that Hibari was staring up at him, but he couldn't care less as fatigue overwrote the adrenaline. Hibari was seriously a monster. He didn't even break a goddamn sweat after the long and fast run. "Alright."

He blinked. "Seriously?"

Hibari kept his tonfa and leaned against the tree trunk, staring up the sky instead. "Shiroki Ryuuichi, oldest son of Shiroki Kei and Shiroki Sakura. Used to live in Namimori before migrating to Italy, is the bronco's distant cousin. Excel in guns and other weapon, pessimist at times and has not much friends."

The last sentence hit Ryuuichi hard. True, he didn't have much friends back in high school and middle school. He had quite a lot in primary, but as he grew older, he grew further apart from them until he realized that most of his friends weren't really friends. He didn't even care, since he has his family, but it was still painful to hear it from someone he barely know. And it seemed like Hibari knew more about him than he himself does.

"Are you a stalker?!"

Hibari scoffed. "As if. You're a Namimori resident. I know every Namimori residents." Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow. The man sounded as though he wasn't done. That, and there was something strange. Really strange. The way he talked to Hibari was strange, in a sense that even he himself doesn't understand. He spoke in this familiarity that he would only do with those he's closed with.

He was pretty sure that he had only met Hibari six months ago. Apparently not.

"You're such an idiot, crybaby kitten." He twitched.

"I'm not a goddamn crybaby nor a kitten-" He paused just as Hibari craned his neck up and stared into his eyes with this unnerving smirk. A familiar, annoying, unnerving, irritating, aggravating, irksome and vexatious smirk. He gaped.

"Crazy Raven?" If possible, the smirk widen. "Took you long enough, crybaby kitten."

Ryuuichi slammed himself back onto the tree trunk, groaning loudly. "Stop calling me that, goddamit. I'm not a crybaby." "Says the one who cried his lungs out in kindergarten when his brother was home sick." He blushed and sputtered incoherently. "Shut up!" He shifted and accidentally lost his balance. He tilted down onto the ground head first.

He wasn't able to comprehend anything at all, and when he realized it, he was in Hibari's arms. Immediately, he was propped upright and he was blinking into the man's bluish grey eyes. "What just-" He quickly covered his nose when he felt something dripping out, and smelled like rusted iron.

He had overdid it. Then again, who wouldn't when they were running away with the speed of a hundred kilometer per hour. Okay, maybe not that much but still.

A sigh brought his attention back to the man as a handkerchief was pressed against his nose, removing his hand away as he was set onto the ground. "Just what were you doing?"

"Excuse  _me._ You're the one who caused it, indirectly." He wanted to tilt his head back as he said in a raspy, breathless voice but Hibari had his hand on the back of his neck, forcing him to keep his head upright. Ryuuichi was tempted to bite his hand when the man rolled his eyes at him.

" _I could say the same to you._ " Hibari murmured lowly in French as he pressed the cloth harder. Ryuuichi frowned at that, wasn't able to catch that at all.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Needless to say, Hibari didn't know if it was fate, as  _he_  had once said it, or it was just plain coincidence that he found Ryuuichi, that he found  _him_  again. He would never let go, not after waiting for so long. Ryuuichi merely raised an eyebrow at that strange behavior.

In the world where Ryuuichi have no memories except the occasional fleeting dreams, Hibari has the memories of the past 400 years, as a French man. In the world, where their connection were cut for different yet similar reason, they met once again with no other reason to separate.

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Caelum was someone with plenty of opinions, plenty of thoughts and ideas on life as a human. He had a interest in philosophies and the way the world works, having to read, heard and memorized the words from famous people all around the world. He was, in a sense, similar to his late uncle, mysterious, deep thoughts, filled with wonders and questions.

However, unlike his uncle, he had never dared to actually find everything out and voice his questions. He was all but afraid of knowing the harsh truth and, oblivion.

And he had not wanted his family to hate him as how they hated his uncle. A coward, people would say. He begged differ.

That was all his thoughts in the past.

He soon realized that there was no such thing as peace, from all the war, blood and death. There was no forever happiness from all the betrayals and backstabs. There was no eternal love, but he believed there is despite how his mind rejected the idea. He believed in eternal bond in every sense, he believed that there was soulmates.

He also believed that there was none for him, after what he had done.

Caelum closed his eyes shut, darkness replacing the blue sky, basking in the sun with the cooling wind blowing. It was calming. So calming that Caelum was slightly edgy about it, as there was always the saying of the calm before the storm. Especially in the world of mafia.

In a sense, he knew that Vongola wasn't like the mafia. They were a  _vigilant_  group, one that protects. He don't deny the fact, however, that he could still taste the split blood from the past, and from the present. He wasn't exactly looking forward to the future in anyway.

"Are you unwell?"

A shadow loomed over him as he cracked an eye open, lying on the soft, green grass. He was greeted immediately by a pair of orange eyes, bright and filled with concern. The strong shoulders that held the burden of the Family, the responsibility, looked slightly sagged and tired from the lack of mantle. Perhaps the man was taking a break, Caelum mused.

"No, I'm fine and dandy, actually." Giotto looked relief at that as he sat down beside him. "Then do you mind if I ask what are you doing here?"

"Not at all. I was just.. Reliving everything." He raised an eyebrow at the ginger. (Caelum proclaimed it to be the color of oak, but it looked ginger to most of them.) The other has great memories, seemly limitless with how easy he could memorize things. It was good, yet it was also bad, because he could never forget something.

Giotto stayed silent, not answering it. He wasn't Alaude, who could easily know what exactly Caelum was thinking with a glance. Alaude knew him longer than Giotto, or most of them did, after all. Even his hyper intuition could only do so much when it comes to the Historian.

" _My soul is in the sky_. Doesn't it seems," Caelum quirked a smile. "Ironic?"

"It does, but since when that deceased man has no twisted sense of humor?" He laughed. "True." He closed his eyes again and hummed a tune, the lullaby his mother had always sung to his younger sisters every night. It has been years, but the song never left his mind, imprinted to his soul.

He loved it, even as it brought despair to his heart.

"Are you really going to leave, Caelum?" His humming stopped. A sad smile appeared on his face. "Yeah."

"What about Alaude?" He stared up at the drifting cloud, well aware that Giotto was staring at him. "He'll be free." Giotto frowned. "Why are you trying to bring grief to yourself? You have never tied him down or anything."

"Sometimes.." The other said so softly, so weakly in a way that Giotto had never heard before. He was mildly afraid of what Caelum would say. "Leaving is necessary. Perhaps my sorrow now will bring blessing to the future, or it won't and make it worst. Who knows, for I'm no god. All I know is that I can no longer stay by his side."

".. Does he know?" Caelum shook his head. "It's for the best, Giotto. It's for the best." He pushed himself up onto sitting position and finally looked at the blonde. He gave him a grateful look. "Thank you for all these years, Giotto. Thank you so much." He reached out his hand for him to shake.

Giotto couldn't help but let twitch upwards. "I should say the same to you, Caelum." He took the hand and shook it firmly, warm and comforting. "No words can ever express my gratitude to you for your presence." He pulled him into a hug and petted him on the back. "Should fate allow, we shall meet again. All of us, where hatred and sadness cannot touch us."

Caelum returned the hug and nodded. "Should fate allow." He echoed as they pulled away. The mirrored each others' smile, Caelum staring into those bright orange eyes for one last time before he stood up. " _Addio, il mio fratello_." With that, he walked away, disappearing into the woods and disappearing completely, where Giotto can no longer feel his presence.

' _Dio_ , please have mercy and bring them out of the darkness. Please have mercy and let us sinners breathe.'

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Ryuuichi woke up to tears falling down his eyes uncontrollably. He leaned back onto the office chair and wiped his eyes. He frowned in confusion. He had no idea why, but he was feeling so damn sad and lonely. It was just so sudden, and the cause was all because of the dream. A dream that he couldn't remember. He had no recollection of it at all, not even a bit.

But the emotions were so raw, so  _pure_.

His phone suddenly rang from the desk as he blinked away the tears, sniffling slightly. He cleared as he picked it up. "Yes?"

" _Ryuuichi? Something happened?_ " He pulled the phone back slightly to see that it was Hibari. How strange. He was pretty sure that it was in the midnight in America at the moment. "Nothing. Why?"

" _You're crying_." Trust Hibari to know something happen. He had probably felt it somehow. How, Ryuuichi had no idea, since Hibari had the tendency to realize things. It was endearing, and slightly scary. He let out a watery chuckle, soft but loud and clear in the silent room, cold office. "I guess I am."

" _What happened?_ " Hibari asked again. Ryuuichi was tempted to shrug but he remembered that Hibari couldn't see him at the moment. "I've no idea. I just woke up to realizing that I was crying for no reason." Hibari stayed silent through the phone, and Ryuuichi could literally hear him frowning. "I'm alright, Kyouya. I'm alright." 'Because you're  _here_.'

"..  _I'll be coming home soon._ "

"Oh? Are you done with your work?"

" _For my part, yes. The rest is up to him._ " He nodded, knowing that Hibari was referring to Tsuna. "Okay. It's midnight there, right? Go rest, Kyouya."

" _I will. You should take a break as well, Ryuuichi. Good night._ " He hummed at the tone, loving every second of it. "Good night. Stay safe." And with that, the call was ended, leaving Ryuuichi wanting nothing but to hear Hibari's voice again. (Little did he know, Hibari was the same.) He blinked at the calendar on the desk and couldn't help but smile. He stood up from his chair and stretched, sighing in relief at the sound of his bones popping. "I should perhaps buy something for the others while buying Kyouya's gift."

He shoved both of his hands into his pocket as he leisurely walked out of the office. Unknown to him, the Historian ring glowed slightly.

_"Caelum. Did you say that you aren't going to look at their life?" The man quirked a wry smile and let out a chuckle. "I did, but for some reason, Ryuuichi managed to pull out my memories without me tapping into it, even when he can't remember it. None of the other reincarnations could do that. I just have to see why."_

_"He's the most similar to you after all, and the purity of his flames- ... You do know why, don't you?" He chuckled again. "Ahh, you caught me. I_ do _know why. I'm just.. Curious. He's not me."_

_The other sighed. "Caelum, let's go. We should leave now." He finally looked up to him from Ryuuichi. ".. I suppose." He smiled sadly. "Let's go then, Alaude." They disappeared into thin air._

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Tsuna swallowed and sweated, heart thumping nervously against his rib cage as his hands were clammy. He breathed in deeply, trying calm himself down, looking up the sky. He was finally going to do it. After all these years of silent liking, he was finally going to confess. He would probably confess earlier, but his growing tutor was distracting. He blamed his hormones for it, but apparently, he still like her. He couldn't forget about her even after all that.

So he asked her to meet him on the rooftop of their high school after school alone. He almost couldn't shake both Gokudera and Yamamoto off because it was his birthday, but fortunately, he did. He arrived almost an hour before the arranged time, too nervous and impatient. When five minutes passed, his confidence dropped.

What if she doesn't like him the same he does?

He bit his lips and shook the negative thought away immediately. Just as his mind was about to stray further, the door opened as she appeared. Tsuna immediately blushed and stammered a greeting when she greeted, apologizing for being late.

"Is there something you need?"

He gulped. 'Now is the time. I can do this.' He need to do this. He had thought of it for so long. Worst case scenario, he being rejected. He would accept that.

"I- Kyoko-chan. I-I-" He breathed in deeply again, she staring in confusion. "I like you, Kyoko-chan! Please go out with me!" He was blushing so much that even his neck and ears were red. His eyes were shut tightly, hands clenched as he waited for the rejection. Kyoko's eyes widen as she blushed as well.

She fidgeted for a moment, looking here and there. She was taking so long that Tsuna thought she was really going to reject him. "I-I'm sorry, Kyoko-chan. I shouldn't bother you wit-"

"T-that's not it, Tsuna-kun! I-.." He blinked upon the same hue she had on her cheeks. "I... Like you as well."

He couldn't believe his ears. His long time crush, and the one he like, had the same feeling as his! He pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. 'Painful..' He wasn't dreaming!  _He wasn't dreaming!_  "R-really?"

Kyoko nodded slowly. Tsuna couldn't help it but grin happily like a maniac. He immediately pulled her into a tight hug and muttered thousands of thank you to her. Kyoko giggled at that, mirroring his smile.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't a lie when Haru really liked Tsuna. She really does. But she also know that he was in love with her best friend, Kyoko. It was as clear as daylight since they were teens. Yet she wouldn't give up, silently taking Kyoko as her love rival, but also her best friend to death.

She was hung on him for years. Until Tsuna's seventeenth birthday. They were having a party in Tsuna's house, when she saw that he and Kyoko were holding hands in an intimate manner. She immediately knew what was going on. So she put on a smile, greeting the both of them happily. They noticed the difference in her almost instantly, but she didn't care. She was really happy for them, honest! But it hurt.

So she bustled around, chattering as how she usually would. Ryuuichi wasn't smiling at her. He wasn't frowning as well. From what she know, he was concern about her. (She was aware that Ryuuichi was incapable of sympathizing or pitying anyone, after all these years. Either he was concern, doesn't care, or he has no comment over things.)

She gave him a wry smile, not noticing the stare from Gokudera

When night fell as everyone went back, Gokudera confronted her.

"What is wrong with you?" The way he said that was so different from his sentence. For once, he was talking softly to her. Haru put up a facade. "Nothing~ Why? Is Gokudera-san worried about Haru? Aww~" Unlike usual where he would sputter and shout at her, he frowned. "Seriously, what happened to you?"

She stopped smiling and turned away. "It's none of your business, Gokudera-san. Haru'll be fine. Please don't mind me." He frowned even more. She was surprised when he hugged her, awkwardly patting her back. If it was anytime, she would shriek and jump away, shouting at him, but she didn't feel like it.

Instead, she broke down against his strong chest.

Gokudera patted her head, dismissing how his shirt was getting wetter each second. 'Idiot..'

(Much later on, they went back to their usual selves, shouting at each other. But more often than not, they would hold each other close with a content smile on their face.)

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari was damn annoyed. Really damn  _annoyed_  at everything, especially at the growing crowd. The fact that Ryuuichi, who was supposed to be with him had ditched him even before it started. Unfortunately, he had already arrived for the fact that he needed to make sure that the security is fine. Not to mention, that damn bronco had stopped him before he was able to take a step off the ballroom.

It was the annual ball that Vongola holds every year without much of a hitch, and this year, the Cavallone  _and_  the Shimon had joined and together, the three Dons hosted it together.

It was a really,  _really_  huge ball. No joke.

He was outside, away from the crowd while leaning against the small balcony with the glass door closed. He was trying to pacify his own irritation as if he were to go on chaos now, nothing good would come out of it. As Ryuuichi had said. Honestly, he wouldn't even care of it and just create destruction, but he had no energy to deal with those pathetic herbivores. (Really, he didn't because Ryuuichi had also threatened him that if he did pulled some crazy stunts or tried to slaughter everyone, he would be banned from touching him for two months.)

A rap on the glass door was heard as he turned to the bronco. Still a giant, and still smiling that stupid grin as always. Hibari wouldn't deny it, however, that he does look good. Ryuuichi's always better though. The door was pulled open as Hibari narrowed his eyes at the older man. "What is it?"

"The party's starting, Kyouya." He huffed and turned away, arms crossed. "So?"

"'So'? Let's go!" He growled lowly at the hand that was going to touch him. "No." Dino groaned, but dropped his hand to his side. "Oh come on! Don't be such a wet blanket. It'll be fun! I promise!"

"No."

"Ryuuichi's coming." That, he perked up and raised an eyebrow at the blonde. (Dino sweated at the fact how Ryuuichi's name could grab Hibari's full attention like he was the most interesting thing in the world. Well, to Hibari at least. It was almost as though Tsuna had given him the mission to slaughter a crowding flock of two thousand or something.)

Dino raised both of his hands up and shrugged at that 'I'll bite you to death if you dare to lie to me' look. He was used to that already. "Yuuichi told me that he would."

Hibari scrutinized him for a moment. "Hn." With that, he pushed himself away from the balcony and passed by the blonde, into the ball room as Dino made way for the skylark. He walked to a corner where he could look at every guests in the room with just one glance and where no one was. (No one dared to stay near Hibari's perimeter. Not after hearing the rumors of the skylark being a mafiosi-eating demon.)

The party soon begun and Hibari felt his temper reaching it's max as time passed. It was getting too noisy with chatters and the soft music in the background, and Ryuuichi haven't even arrive. He was tempted to just walk away and leave already when the chatters stopped short upon five women's appearances from the door. It was Kyoko, Haru, Chrome and Bianchi, dolled up gorgeously that left lustful mafiosi drool over them. That explained why they were missing the whole day.

The last one, the tallest one they were holding onto tightly tried to pull away from them, her long dark brown hair curling up at the base, wearing a uncomfortable-looking black dress with a pair of high heels. It was as if she wasn't tall enough. Hibari stared at her as she tried to hide herself from public eyes. He then noticed Reborn sauntering over to her, Bianchi immediately latching onto the tall hitman as she cooed about something.

Reborn was smirking as the unnamed woman growled and snapped lowly at Reborn. People all around them stared in horror at how brave she was. What she was talking about, Hibari didn't know as he was practically at the opposite side of the room. She looked as though she wanted to punch Reborn when she took a step forward. Though, she ended up stumbling and falling into Reborn's arms.

Hibari felt more irritated than usual.

Soon, Dino, Enma and Tsuna crowded around her, grinning and laughing while she blushed and screeched at them. Hibari hummed.

He walked over to her. Just as he was about to reach her, their eyes met. She immediately turned scarlet and tried to run away. Read: Tried to. She ended up tripping over her legs. Hibari managed to save her from embarrassing herself by falling flat onto the ground and pulled her into his arms.

She was red to the tip of her ears as Hibari smirked down at her. (The others snickered and hurried away from them.) "Good evening, small animal. You made me wait" She, or rather, he groaned and wanted buried his face into Hibari's shoulder but the split second remembrance that Kyoko and Haru had put on some make-up on him made him stop. His face itched, his legs hurts, and he was really uncomfortable at his exposed back. He whimpered in despair at why he allowed them to force him into this revealing dress.

Right. He lost a bet to Reborn. Damn that hitman.

"Someone please kill me oh my god--" Hibari pulled him tighter and tilted his head to look at him. He was still smirking, much to the younger's chagrin. "Why? You look gorgeous." He said huskily, leaning closer slightly. Ryuuichi, if possible, turned even more redder. Hibari really missed the time he could make him this flustered without much of an effort.

"Shut up." He pecked him on the lips and chuckled lowly. He pulled away slightly and dragged Ryuuichi off to the dance floor. "Shall we have a dance?"

"You should have asked that  _before_  dragging me here, dammit. It's not like I have any choice.." Ryuuichi pouted as Hibari skillfully led the dance. He was finally able to calm his heating face down, going with the flow. He had given up the moment Hibari grabbed onto him. There was no escape for him after all. "I didn't think that you would want to dance in this crowd though."

"What crowd? There's only you in my eyes." He blushed again. "You- How can you be so cheesy- God----" Hibari smiled at how adorable he was. "Says the one who's cheesy even before he was born." Ryuuichi growled half-heartedly before sighing in exasperation. True, he had only just realized that.

"How did they managed to make you wear this anyway?"

"Bianchi said that she would feed me to her ingredients while Chrome would throw me into a vortex of cliche horror if I don't let Kyoko and Haru...." He looked away slightly and sweated.

Hibari raised an eyebrow. "They saw you naked?"

"They did not!" Ryuuichi gave him a horrified look because the mere thought of that gave him goosebumps. No offense to the girls, but he honestly don't feel comfortable even being half in front of them. Or anyone else as the matter of fact. His parents and Yuuichi doesn't count, and Hibari's a special case.

"Huh. So you put it on on your own accord." He sobbed. "I didn't want to die.."

Hibari chuckled again. "You're afraid of them when you wouldn't even cower upon the cold creatures?" He meant by the Vindice. Really. Ryuuichi wouldn't even give a damn to them despite the danger. Either he felt that they wouldn't kill him, or that he could beat them. It was a fifty-fifty chance though.

"I don't want to hurt them." Ryuuichi sighed as Hibari twirled him. He didn't realized that that was coming and almost fell again. Damn these high heels. He had never liked them, and he will never like them.

Hibari pulled him back and kissed him despite the stares.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi hissed as he pulled off the high heels and rubbed his sore feet. The skin around his heel bones were red and chafed. He was fortunate enough that they weren't bleeding, or it would be a pain in the back to deal with it. He sighed and slumped onto the soft bed, spreaded across the cover, absolutely exhausted. He should really clean the make-up off his face.

Hibari, who had went into the toilet the moment the doors were locked, came out with a wet towel. Ryuuichi blinked at him when he was attacked in the face by the said towel. (At least it was warm.) "Hmpp-!?" His yelps of surprise was muffled against cloth, unable to breath.

"Puwaa- What the hell?" Hibari raised an eyebrow at the cloth before tossing it somewhere. "Did you just attempted to get this," Ryuuichi pointed at his face. More specifically, the chemicals on his face. "Off with just that?"

Hibari gave him a blank look. "Shouldn't your eyes be burning."

Ryuuichi blinked. In matters of seconds, he rushed into the toilet and the sound of frantic splashes of water made Hibari snickered, settling on the bed. Ryuuichi came out with another towel, a dry one, and was wiping his face with a sigh. It was much more comfortable without the make-up on his face.

He glanced down at the dress and frowned. It took him ages to put this on because he had no idea how to without the help of the girls, and freaking hell, he would rip this into pieces if he wasn't careful enough. (He was pretty sure that it cost a bomb. He preferred a bomb than this. Or not. Depending on the situation.)

He reached back to find the zip at the bottom and was about to pull it down when Hibari stopped him. The older man was suddenly in front of him and pulling him into a kiss. Ryuuichi gasped into Hibari's mouth as he was pushed down onto the bed. Hibari suddenly pulled away and grabbed his leg. Ryuuichi blushed when he pulled it up, exposing his clothed lower parts.

Hibari raised an eyebrow at the boxer. "Pity that you aren't wearing lingerie." The younger blushed harder and tried to close his legs together, attempting to kick the Cloud on the head as well. Hibari's grip only tighten at his leg and spread them wider. With a smirk, he pulled the leg he was holding nearer, eyes never leaving Ryuuichi's.

He kissed the leg, slightly. He gave him a feral grin as Ryuuichi blanched  _and_  flushed at the same time. "Let's hear you scream, small animal."

And scream he did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY! How long did I take? Almost three weeks? Yeah, I think. Sorry for taking so long! School and the extra classes and the activities are taking a toll on me. orz
> 
> 'Addio, il mio fratello' means 'Farewell, my brother' in Italian. 'Dio' means 'God' in Italian as well.
> 
> For the first part, Ryuuichi's brain had shrunk to a five years old. Because of the bazooka. Instead of switching with his future self, he into a kid. Initially, I wanted to write him stuck 400 years in the past, but well... *shrug*
> 
> Reborn knew that Ryuuichi was once a crybaby because Ryuuichi has no filter when he's drunk.
> 
> Fun Fact= Like Hibari, Ryuuichi actually really like soft, fluffy and cute things, but not as much as Hibari. (Somehow. He tends to squeal at times though.)
> 
> The parallel world thing is more of an AU, actually. The twins and the others are nineteen here. Instead of Yamamoto, Ryuuichi and Yuuichi's childhood 'acquaintance' is Hibari. Hibari has his memories of the past as Alaude, but he only remembered it after he lost contact with the twins.
> 
> Fun Fact= Yuuichi's penpal is Amemori *smirks*
> 
> 'My Soul is in the Sky' is actually a quote from William Shakespeare. I found it amusing so yeah. And since William Shakespeare passed away in the 1600 something, and that the Primo era is somewhere around 1600, so yeah. Edit (5Jan18)= I've changed the setting of Primo Era to 1800s to match the timeline where Cosa Nostra started.
> 
> Don't you guys think 2795 and 5986 is cute as well? Though I still like R27~ XP
> 
> Oh yeah, they're all seventeen there.
> 
> *cough* I apparently have no shame over the last part *grins*
> 
> I'll be writing those 100 prompt thing? Where a word or two was given and you'll need to write something? Yeah. I might write 200. So it'll definitely take a while. I'm apparently procrastinating on the Character Profile and I need to edit it a LOT. *sigh* Still, any requests?
> 
> [Questions on Wattpad]
> 
> -Is Iemitsu still working or was let go and told to stay with Nana?= Like Ryuuichi, Tsuna had forced Iemitsu to retire early and repay Nana the lost time. Basil is currently the head of CEDEF, as he was trained to be one. 
> 
> -I-Pin. How about her? Where is she?= She's currently in Japan with Bianchi, Lambo and Fuuta. They will be start living with Tsuna and the others after they graduated from middle school. Fuuta and Bianchi stayed to wait for them. Kyoko and Haru were in Japan as well, actually. They'll follow the four of them to Italy a year after.
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


	80. A Hundred of Everything, A Hundred of Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 100 word-prompts, except it doubled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A really long chapter. There will be hint/ short parts that's sexual. I didn't go into detail so it's like, only a few sentence long. [I'm wondering if I should change the rating to Mature...]

**1\. Birth**

The moment Ryuuichi was able to see light again, he couldn't help but scream. Scream in confusion, and in desperation. He, however, soon quieted down when Yuuichi's cries joined his moments after.

**2\. Introduction**

"Shiroki Ryuuichi." The said teen jerked at the sudden call, the previously noisy classroom was as silent as grave. He looked up from his note book and spotted the prefect that sauntered towards him.

His eyes widen in shock, but he merely stared, too speechless to say anything.

It was only with the years of self defense training he had did he managed to dodge the tonfa aiming to his head. He jumped back, his chair clattered and fell onto the ground. Yuuichi abruptly stood up from his seat behind his brother and was about to shout at Hibari when Ryuuichi shot him a look and shook his head.

Ryuuichi turned back to the prefect. "Hibari Kyouya." He nodded to the prefect, noting an approval glint in his grey eyes. Internally, Ryuuichi both screamed and squealed. He never thought that Hibari would personally approach him.

Hibari smirked and kept his tonfa. "After classes, the courtyard. Come or I'll hunt you down." And he walked out of the classroom as though nothing happened.

Ryuuichi remained blank until the teacher came after a few minutes.

'The heck just happened?'

**3\. Complicated**

Ryuuichi gritted his teeth as he did a very clumsy somersault back, barely avoiding the metal tonfa of death. He stumbled when he landed on his feet, and quickly lifted his arms up, crossed, to block the weapon to his head. Honestly, what was with Hibari and aiming at people's head?

And damn, did that hurt!

Hibari whistled, impressed. It wasn't much who can simply block off his attacks simply like that. His strength would have broken the bones, but surprisingly, Ryuuichi managed to block it on a spot where he would take lesser damage. He probably did it without noticing.

But just that can never beat Hibari.

He kicked, sweeping Ryuuichi's legs off and his tonfa onto the teen's abdomen. Ryuuichi yelped as he was thrown back. He skidded to a stop, hitting the tree and panted.

"W-wait!" Hibari couldn't care less as he rushed forward, tonfa stretched out. Ryuuichi squeaked and immediately duck, the tonfa hit the poor tree, leaving and indent.

Grumbling he immediately jumped up and literally onto Hibari. The prefect as taken in surprise as Ryuuichi's weight and the velocity of his movement pushed him off balance, landing onto the ground. He, despite that, wasted no time and rolled, pinning Ryuuichi down instead of the other way around. One of his tonfa was against the other's throat as Ryuuichi cursed.

"D-dammit what the hell?! Can you at least tell me what you want before attacking me out of nowhere?!"

Hibari smirked with great amusement, not even out of breath despite fighting for almost an hour non-stop when Ryuuichi was already dying. Ryuuichi's arms were littered with bruises and his abdomen hurts from all the kicks and hits. He was sooo going to be aching everywhere.

"Long hair for guys is against the rules." Ryuuichi threw his head back and groaned loudly in annoyance. "That's all? Ugh." He glared at the prefect, which turned into a pout.

"I can't cut it. Otherwise, people won't differentiate me and my brother." An excuse, it was very easy to differentiate the teen.

After all, one is really outgoing while the other is awkward.

Hibari raised an eyebrow as Ryuuichi groaned again. "Okay, I like my hair. I want to keep it like this. I won't let it grown more than shoulder length and always tie it up. Really."

The prefect stared for a moment before standing up and walked away. "Get out of the school ground, small animal. School's over." Ryuuichi laid there, blinking at the sky.

"Oh my god. Did he just called me 'small animal'?"

**4\. Hate**

Kei blamed his hormones. He hated love, he hated the thought of loving, he practically  _loathed_  its existence. There was no love, not after his family died because of it. Of love and loyalty. Ended with betrayals that practically slaughtered everyone. Kei wasn't there when it happened, family killed by the other branches of their family. If he were there, he might be able to save everyone, or he would vanish with them.

He wasn't there for them.

But when he saw Sakura for the first time, his hatred turned into something else.

**5\. Love**

Ryuuichi rarely use the word 'love', choosing the word 'like' instead. He felt that, if he used 'love', it would meant that he could never live without it. So far in his thirteen (nineteen) years of life, his family is the only one he used 'love'.

And when he hit fourteen, fifteen and sixteen and so on, his family grew, his usage for 'love' expanded, and the one person he felt that even love couldn't justify who he was to him made him realized that 'love' was really a word too strong, but he loves it.

**6\. Feel**

Ryuuichi shrieked when he felt something touched his leg and immediately ran away, barreling into the people dressed as a ghost without a care and practically ripped himself out of the haunted house. He was miles away in barely a minute.

Hibari, in the haunted house, was shaking. He was shaking so hard trying to conceal the laughter that threaten to slip out of his lips and bounced off the walls.

**7\. Wrecked**

Going through Middle School again was one thing. Going through high school was another. Because of all the pressure the teachers gave him and projects and the saying that 'you have to do well or else you'll ended up dying in a ditch' or something were really killing him. On one hand, he gave little to no damn about it seeing that he was already on a steady path to be a criminal. On the other, he just couldn't stop himself to do well. (Consider it as a bad habit of his.)

Ryuuichi never liked pressure. When summer break came, he never realized how blissful it was despite the heat. Because god help him, he would wreck the whole world upside down and inside out if the annoying teachers don't get out of his hair soon.

**8\. Soft**

They were spooning, with Ryuuichi being the little spoon. Hibari was holding him so close that he could practically feel everything. He couldn't care less, however. He was sleepy, and his bed was soft. His lover was so warm and cozy that he wanted to fully melt in his arms.

And the Hibird plushy in his arms was so damn  _fluffy_. He just couldn't.

**9\. Cold**

Amemori shivered at the cold wind and wrapped himself with his thick coat tighter. He was starting to wonder why he was standing in the middle of the street and out in the cold when he could stay in his house, playing with his younger siblings as they watched some stand-up comedies on television.

Ah, right. Yuuichi. He was waiting for his boyfriend, who was staying in a hotel for the time being with his brother somewhere around Kyoto. He had promised him that he would take him around Kyoto. Right.

"Hibiki! Sorry for being late!" The sight of Yuuichi jogging towards him made him heat up.

**10\. Without**

Tsuna gasped awake, jolting into sitting position. He clutched his hurting head as he tried to calm his labored breathing. A nightmare. His breath hitched when he remembered the content of it, quickly pushing it away.

"-na, Tsuna." A pair of hands were on his shoulders as they shook him out of his reverie. He blinked upon seeing a frowning Reborn. Why was Reborn frowning anyway? "Tsuna, you're having a nightmare. Calm down. It's alright." It seemed so real though, the dream. He wanted to say that, but he found no energy to. Instead, he nodded stiffly. Clearly, Reborn was still slightly concern.

He pulled him down onto the bed again, being uncharacteristic as he held him close, patting him on the back. "Go back to sleep, idiot." 'It'll be alright.'

Tsuna felt somewhat relieved.  _But it wasn't alright, as the dream was linked to the future that should never happen_.

**11\. Inspiration**

There was this thing about dancing in the rain that appealed Yamamoto. Maybe it was because of his flame, and yet, it was still appealing. Ryohei didn't understood it, but Yamamoto didn't mind. Ryohei was more the sunny type after all.

The rain always brought ideas and insights to him for his dance-like fighting style.

**12\. You**

Ryuuichi kissed Hibari for the nth time that day, albeit gentler than the previous one. "Ti amo, amore." He skipped away to continue on with his work, leaving a very confused and weird out Hibari behind. The next hour he popped out again, he kissed the older as hard as he could, tongue and all. "Je t'aime, amour~" He huskily said after the broke apart.

And he left without another word. Hibari frowned. Something was wrong with his lover. Not that he disliked all of that, but he was genuinely concerned. Ryuuichi doesn't usually initiate things.

So he cornered him an hour after when he appeared. "What is wrong with you?"

Ryuuichi merely laughed and leaned up to kiss him. "You~"

**13\. Confused**

Enma woke up to Natsu his face. And Uri on top of him. And Shiro and Kuro nuzzling against his side. He tilted his head, frowning. 'What in the worl-' He blinked. Why does he smell like catnip?

**14\. Affection**

Ryuuichi chuckled silently as Hibari buried his face in his stomach, head on his lap as the prefect tried to sleep. He threaded his fingers into the surprisingly soft black hair, massaging the scalp slightly. Hibari unconsciously leaned against his hand when he rubbed the lower end. Really, Hibari looked and acted like a cat.

His and only his affectionate, spoiled cat.

**15\. Joy**

The moment Ryuuichi and Yuuichi came to life, Sakura couldn't feel more happier than the day she accepted Kei's proposal. They are her babies, her precious. She love them so damn much, that all the pain she being through was worth it.

And it was really worth it, as she watched them grow each day with Kei.

**16\. Horror**

Ryuuichi blanched upon the news. His hands trembled as he struggled to stand up right, trying to not drop his phone. "T-Tsuyoshi-san, what are you talking about? M-my father is alright. He's with my mother right now, in the shop, right? Tsuyoshi-san-"

" _Ryuuichi-kun, calm down, please. You father.. He.. He was shot thrice in the stomach. He's currently in the hospital-_ " He never got to hear the rest as the phone dropped onto the ground with a loud thud. Ryuuichi stared blankly at it, hands shaking so badly that Dino was concerned.

"Ryuuichi? What's wrong?" He took a deep breath.

"Call Yuuichi," He said shakily. "Call him and get us back to Japan.  _Now._ " He hurried away to the toilet and threw up.

**17\. Acceptance**

"Yuuichi, I love you. I'll always love you no matter who you are. You are you, my brother. I love you." Yuuichi sobbed into Ryuuichi's chest as he held him tightly, whispers of thank you slipped out of his lips in a fast pace.  _I love you so much, thank you._

**18\. Sympathy**

Gokudera stayed silent as he knelt in front of the grave, his mother's grave. Haru was beside him, gripping his shoulder tightly as a support. He didn't need her pity or sympathy, and she knew it. Instead, she was silently telling him that she would be with him.

It was weird how clashing their personality were, but how their heart and soul fitted together.

**19\. Holding**

Ryuuichi let out a strangled gasp when Hibari tighten his hold. "K-Kyouya- no-" He rasped out breathlessly, whimpering. Hibari smirked, thumbing. The younger moaned out at the sudden movement. "P-please- Kyouya- Ah-!"

"Let me see you break, Ryuuichi."

**20\. Defeated**

Death, for once, frowned upon seeing the fourth reincarnation of the Historian, standing at the very edge of the tall building with the strong wind blowing against the lean frame. Dark green eyes dulled, light dying in it as he gazed down onto the town. Upon sight of the broken Historian, Death knew Fate had gone too far.

But when has Fate not gone too far? Far too many times had the humans wave white flag to Fate, surrendering.

Death felt it was too much for the Historian after all his suffering.

**21\. Pride**

When Dino reached his expectation, Reborn was impressed and genuinely proud. When Tsuna continued to grow and grow even after all these years, Reborn found himself exhilarated. When Ryuuichi surpassed his expectation , Reborn was absolutely speechless.

The three of them were and always will be his pride.

**22\. Knife**

Ryuuichi had literally stabbed the butter knife in between this American jock's leg, impaling it into the chair with a blank and cold look on his face. The jock paled, trembling on the chair as Ryuuichi stared down at him. "Keep your hands to yourself." He pulled Xena and Ivy away, Yura laughing his arse off.

The jock fainted right there and then. Since when butter knives are this sharp?

**23\. Overwhelmed**

It didn't occur him when they got together. It definitely did not occur him when they were out on dates. No. It hit him when they were cuddling against each other while watching some boring movies. It hit him so hard that Ryuuichi couldn't help pull Hibari into a full-blown make out.

"Why so sudden?" Hibari asked, murmuring into his lips as they joined mouth again. "I just realized that I couldn't live without you and I love you  _so_  damn much."

**24\. Depressed**

Amemori was drunk. It didn't take a idiot to realize that, with how unsteady and flushed he was. But he was the idiot. He figured that he wasn't drunk enough, and just kept drinking. He really missed Yuuichi, and their break-up was just killing him. He wanted to forget everything, wanted to just rip his heart out.

But he couldn't. He'll always remember it even after he woke up with a hangover. With how horrible he felt, he absentmindedly vowed that he wouldn't drink until he's too drunk to function. (He broke it two years after.)

**25\. Adoration**

Eliot doesn't have any father or mother figure, or idols, in fact. He had been living in hell for as long as he could remember, so love and respect was a very foreign thing to him.

However, Ryuuichi taught him of it unknowingly, as the man guided him with the flames and all, guiding him through his life and gave him a purpose to live. "Eliot! Come here and join us for tea!" Eliot blinked at a smiling Ryuuichi waving at him and Hibari, sitting by the ceramic table in the middle of the garden, shaded and table filled with pastries and tea.

Eliot grinned and ran towards them. "Coming!"

**26\. Worship**

The Discipline Committee member practically took Hibari as god, from what others could see. Ryuuichi saw it that they took Hibari as their leader, respecting him with all their hearts.

They even had a worshiping routine towards the prefect. He decided, that their obsession was a bit too much.

**27\. Zeal**

Yamamoto cheered at the homerun, joining in the other fans at their favourite team's victory. Tsuna smiled in exasperation at how happy and excited Yamamoto was. (He always wondered if Yamamoto should've continued on with his baseball career, but Yamamoto just shot that idea down. Yamamoto wanted to be with them, and he would.)

Even though Tsuna doesn't understand the game as much as the taller man does, he was happy that Yamamoto enjoyed it just as how he did when he was younger. Tsuna was glad that it could bring the innocent back into Yamamoto's eyes. So glad.

**28\. Light**

Luce had really lived up her name, bringing light to everyone. A sky to the boot. She had shown Reborn the light before. It brought him sorrow instead. When she disappeared, only to realize that she was dead, Reborn laughed. If anything, her granddaughter is the light, not her.

If anything, she was darker than his own soul.

**29\. Exhaustion**

Ryohei sighed and slumped onto the chair, leaning back. He loosen his tie as he glared at the paperwork in front of him. He never liked office work, never quite understood them, but it was a necessary thing to do as everything requires written evidence.  _Tsuna_  needed evidence to black mail the rest of the guardians for what they had done.

Especially when they create chaos.

Ryohei just wished that they could be careful enough with their plans and not get injured because,  _it was already the five hundredth time they needed emergency first aid from their own pranks_. This time, was Gokudera impaling himself with his own arrow.

He sighed.

**30\. Obsession**

Everyone wondered why was Caelum so obsessed with the stars, why was he so addicted to literatures and philosophies. They thought it was because he was influenced,  _brain washed_ , by his late uncle.

Unknown to them, he was the one that influenced his uncle into all these, asking him to teach him as his uncle planted the seed of humanity in him.

**31\. Rage**

Yura screamed bloody murder at his mother. He yelled curses at his father. He roared his burning rage into his brother's face. He'd showed them hell in repay for what they had done to him, and he'd showed them how cruel he can be for what they had done to his  _family_.

He was going to  _kill them_.

**32\. Empty**

Yuuichi have no idea why, but on certain days, his brother would look like a lifeless doll for no reason. He was scared of how empty his eyes were at times. He said nothing of it.

And then Amemori explained. Yuuichi wanted nothing but to break the shield Ryuuichi build around himself unconsciously and permanently take it down.

**33\. Anger**

Ryuuichi growled lowly, stalking up to the pair of thugs that dared to cut his hair off because of the incident on last Wednesday: he reported them exploiting juniors to Hibari and the prefect showed them hell. In revenge after knowing that he was the one who told the prefect, they decided to literally cut his hair off with a pair of  _gardening scissors_.

Now it was known to almost everyone in his circle that he has this major pet peeve of people touching his hair or his head, as the matter of fact. (Unless he didn't tie his hair up, which was rarely) Even Hibari wouldn't be forgiven if he were to try and ruffle his hair.

In flash, he showed the thugs the third layer of hell and left them on the ground, beaten black and blue without saying anything. He tugged the hair tie down, his now short hair falling onto his neck. He sighed at the ticklish feeling, rubbing the back of his head. He would need to ask his mother to fix this choppy cut.

**34\. Fury**

All Dino could see was red. Red r _ed R_ ** _ED_**. He snarled loudly at everything and immediately gave orders to tear this Famiglia inside out, spilling blood everywhere. Ryuuichi frowned in concern, but he said nothing about Dino's recklessness. The blonde has every right to kill everyone because they had tortured his fiancee. Even Ryuuichi was angered.

Vindice had no say in this when they came to visit, the Famiglia was nothing but a taboo to everyone in the mafia world. They were all once again reminded that the Cavallone wasn't just the third strongest Famiglia in the world, but the don was the most ferocious among all the other generations' Dons despite his kindness. His fury is not to be taken lightly.

**35\. Delight**

"Happy Birthday Kyouya!" Ryuuichi grinned brightly as he gave the older teen a kiss. Hibari merely blinked and raised an eyebrow, making Ryuuichi groan the moment he saw that. "Oh come on. Don't tell me you've forgotten your birthday."

"I didn't. I just don't see it as something important." This time, Ryuuichi frowned. "It's the day that you're born, the day that you came alive to this world. Of course it's important, you idiot." He kissed him again, harder this time to make his point through. "I'm happy that you're born, Kyouya. Thank you for that."

He leaned their forehead together and grinned brightly. Hibari couldn't help smile at that.

**36\. Submission**

Since Hibari was such a dominant person, a  _carnivore_ , everyone thought that either he would be alone for the rest of his life, or have a submissive  _mate_. They thought that if he were to find a dominant partner, it definitely wouldn't go well. And when Ryuuichi came into the picture as a dominant, they thought Ryuuichi was actually a submissive one. Oh how wrong they were.

Hibari had never said he needed a submissive partner, nor a dominant partner. He didn't even care about it. On the other hand, Ryuuichi was definitely not a submissive one. He, in fact, is rather dominant. In a sense. He was never submissive, and perhaps, never will. (Unless, well, in  _that_  kind of activity.)

The two of them merely complete each other in their own ways, despite how 'clashing' they are, as so said from everyone else other than their friends.

Their friends can never be any more confuse by their relationship in many different ways.

**37\. Infatuation**

At first, it was merely an infatuation, but as time gradually rolls by, Hibiki found himself head over heels for Yuuichi. He had never felt something like this before, not even with Ryuuichi's past self. He soon found himself getting more confused, and more in love. So in love to the point that he couldn't even properly breath, everything overflowing like a broken dam.

When he confessed, he was so sure his heart had exploded into million pieces, with sparkles.

**38\. Anticipation**

Xena was jumping down from the ceiling out of nowhere. Literally. Like spider man. Except clumsier. "W-what the- Xena?! Why were you up there?! Since when-"

"It's going to be Easter!" Ah, right. "Xena, please, calm down. Easter's like, a month from now on."

"Easter! Easter! Easter!" Ryuuichi palmed and sighed in fond exasperation. For some reason, Xena loves Easter so much that she couldn't wait for it each year. Ironically, in contradict to all the sugar, spice and everything nice, she has this interest in dark magic. Ryuuichi couldn't exactly understand her at  _all_.

**39\. Pessimistic**

Kyoko, in contrary to popular belief, was very pessimistic. Her mind seriously contradicted with her personality, unlike her straightforward brother. Hell, even Tsuna thought like that before. (He didn't realize it until a year and a half after their friendship, finally understanding the week after they got together.

Really, she was a pessimist. She just doesn't say it out.

Like how she was trying not to worry about the how her brother might get hurt if he were to go on this long-term mission. (Their long-mission was really at most three months.)

Tsuna was worried as well, but he pushed everything down and tried to support her. Ryuuichi took a glance at them and sighed. "Guys, he's just going to a trip with me and Shamal, for medical research."

" _Exactly_."

**40\. Jolly**

Eliot hummed cheerfully to the song as he swung his legs, looking out the window at the moving scenery. He was on the back seat of Hibari's car, Ryuuichi in the shot gun. The adults were verbally shooting something at each other in a different language as Hibari drove all of them to the zoo.

He had never been to the zoo before, and this would mark the first time in his entire eleven years of life.

" _Kyouya, you can_ not _kidnap any animal for him._ "

" _I can, and I will._ " " _Kyouya!_ "

He couldn't wait for it. He so want to see the lions and tigers and  _elephants_!

**41\. Grasping**

Hibari reached for Ryuuichi's hand as they made their way down the road, walking side by side. He frowned when he found himself grasping into thin air and turned from the shop he was staring into. Ryuuichi was no longer beside him. His eyes widen at the sudden dread that hit him and looked around frantically, trying to find his lover. He couldn't see him as he ran back to where they came from.

Ryuuichi was nowhere to be found.

Everything suddenly changed, the scenery of the town they were in warped into a dimly lit room with a black and old grand piano in the middle. It was tainted in red. He looked at his hands, they were tainted as well, the ground, the walls, his very being, all red. So sickening red.

And then he spotted Ryuuichi, lying in the middle of the red pool with his face up, looking peaceful despite  _everything_.

Hibari shook himself awake and let out a soft gasped, eyes wide and staring at the white ceiling. He was breathing heavily, feeling oddly stiff for some reason. He turned to his side and saw Ryuuichi sleeping peacefully, snoring lightly. He reached over immediately and touched his neck, running his fingers over the beating pulse. His other hand reached to the chest, placing over the thumping heart.

Ryuuichi twitched at the touch and cracked an eye open, sleepily looking at Hibari. He opened both of his eyes. The moment Hibari saw the dark brown orbs, his heart leaped. He pulled the younger nearer, holding onto him tightly. Ryuuichi merely snuggled up against him wordlessly, burying his face against his collar bone while intertwining their hands together. He unknowingly purred softly at the warmth.

Hibari calmed down the moment he did that, taking in his presence. He, however, didn't let go of him even after he had fallen asleep.

**42\. Agitation**

Ryuuichi gritted his teeth, very tempted to bring hell onto earth. Someone had actually dared to insult Ivy, harassing her even. It wasn't done in public and she didn't told any of them. Ryuuichi just so happened to saw the note, scrawled in red on the ground beside the dustbin outside their compound.

He crushed the paper in his hands. Whoever it was, he would show them not to mess with any of them.

**43\. Calm**

Byakuran stared blankly at the screen of his laptop, a video extracted from the security camera. Ryuuichi stood in the middle of chaos, bloodied and heavily injured. And yet, he doesn't seem the least bit scared that he would die any second now. Instead, he stared right at the camera and smirked.

Explosion filled the video, obscuring the death of Ryuuichi. Byakuran popped a marshmallow into his mouth and hummed.

**44\. Astonished**

Lal Mirch gaped at how Colonello and Reborn were tied up together on a pole, back to back. They were biting at each other, snapping insults despite their situation. They acted as though they weren't tied up. Meters away, she saw a fuming Tsuna and shut up.

She turned on her heels and walked away, ignoring the sudden calls from Colonello.

**45\. Loneliness**

The first time Ryuuichi went out on a trip alone without any of his friends or his family, was when he was twelve. He went to Kyoto alone during Summer holiday because he was bored, and that he already had permission. His brother was in camp, apparently, leaving him alone at home for about a week and a half.

At first he was able to entertain himself with his laptop, but soon after, he was literally rotting in boredom.

So he decided to travel to Kyoto for two days. (His father had booked him a hotel the moment he called him, agreeing after multiple persuasion.)

He was excited, really excited, jumping to pack everything at the allowance. He hadn't been to Kyoto before, so he might get lost but he would survive. That's how useful smart phones and technology are nowadays. He was so fortunate.

When he arrived, the first thing he did was heading to the famous places like the Kyoto Manga Museum. Yes, he's a nerd and he wasn't ashamed of it. Next was the Aquarium, which was really awesome since,  _aquatic animals_. He almost didn't wanted to leave but he also wanted to visit the National Museum. He finally did after buying a few souvenirs.

He wasn't disappointed with all his visits, lest to say. When he arrived at the inn he was staying and checked in, he almost dropped dead on the ground instead if the staff wouldn't stop asking where was his parents. He wasn't amused because he clearly could take care of himself. Not to mention that the staff wasn't the first person who asked him that.

He sighed in relief as he laid onto the futon, absolutely tired. His smile dropped as he stared out into the sky. It was fun. Really fun. He had to admit he had enjoyed it a little too much.

But he couldn't stop himself from feeling empty. And lonely. He sighed again and forced himself to sleep, wishing Yuuichi was with him to enjoy everything.

**46\. Lust**

Hibari's eyes were burning as he stared at Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi could feel it. It was hard not to, seeing how intense the stare was. The older was as though trying to burn holes onto his back. His  _back_ , actually. Ryuuichi sweated. Does skylarks have heat? He gulped and tried to ignore it as he continued to arrange the record files back onto the shelves he had pulled out from. Read:  **tried**.

He was getting uncomfortable, his lower part.

He swallowed again and silently huffed, taking in a deep breath to calm himself down. That was when Hibari decided to leave his spot by the other side of the room and sauntered towards him.

Hibari squeezed his  _butt_ _._

"Oh my god- Kyouya, I  _swear to god_ , if you don't leave me alone to finish this up, you'll be getting blue balls for five days."

**47\. Longing**

Caelum forced himself to tear his gaze away from Alaude and walked on. He clenched his hands tightly, jaws locked tightly and tensed. He could not. He  _mustn't_.

Unknown to him, Alaude looked towards him the moment he turned away, staring at his disappearing figure. Alaude frowned a little.

**48\. Tender**

"K-Kyouya-" A silent gasp. "Stop that-!" Hibari kissed his thighs biting softly as he moved his hips slowly. He smirked down the writhing body beneath him, hands ghosting around. "Stop what?" He said in a soft, gentle tone that made Ryuuichi shiver violently. He leaned closer, a hand sliding up those sensitive thighs.

Ryuuichi's breath hitched as he tried to get away from Hibari's hands but to no avail. His energy was drained mostly, and his own brain couldn't really process the need to move. Everything felt hot, so hot and soft that he felt like melting. He couldn't take it. This was causing him to tremble so much that he thought he might die.

He might actually die.

"Ah-!" His voice pitched at the thrust. All too gentle. Was Hibari trying to kill him?

The older man kissed him on the lips softly, murmuring sweet nothing onto his collarbone after moving down. "I love you, Ryuuichi."

Oh god, someone help him because Ryuuichi felt that his heart could literally fail right there, right then.

**49\. Hard**

"Your head is really hard." Ryuuichi squinted his eyes at Gilbert, snatching the ice pack from him. "No thanks to you." He half-heartedly snapped back as he nursed his swollen head. "Next time, try not to aim at my head when you're fixing the lights."

"So I can aim at your face instead?" He narrowed his eyes at the laughing man.

**50\. Rebirth**

Death almost wanted to frown at the amount of souls the Historian had sent to be reincarnated.  _Almost_. Really, the current Historian was too forgiving. These souls were once tainted, but was purify by the Historian even after what it had done. Death let them go, reaching the mortal world and reincarnate.

Perhaps the Historian wanted to give them a second chance, just like how he was given a 'second' life.

How ironic.

**51\. Amused**

Reborn grinned maniacally at how Tsuna shrieked and tried to run away from the energetic panthers that were chasing him. "Reborn! What did you gave them?!" He only cackled in glee at that. Ryuuichi quirked an eyebrow and sighed in exasperation. He couldn't help but smile a little though.

**52\. Broken**

In another world, where Ryuuichi was colorblind but could see flames and have no recollection of his past life  _at all_. In another world, where the power of Historian wasn't by soul but by blood, and Ryuuichi have no blood relation with the Historian. A totally different world, as he was separated by his parents and brother at the age of five because of his sight.

He could only see flames. He was sent to the hospital where only people with problem up on their head goes, forced to. He cried, scream and struggled, not wanting to leave them, but alas, he was brought away.

He was left broken by all the so called treatment. It never 'fixed' him, it couldn't anyway. He knew it at the age of six, a year after he arrived in the asylum. He learned to lie, he learned to hide, he learned to fake taking his medicine. All learned from the rest of the patients in the asylum.

He was released when he was eighteen, where they were finally satisfied torturing him,  _bored after all those years of playing with him_. He never searched for his family. He found a job in a homey cafe owned by this kind old lady, who allowed him to stay in the cafe during the night after knowing that he had no place to sleep. Kind. Really kind. Ryuuichi owed her more than his own life.

Yet, he stayed broken, living just because of it and without a single want to live despite couldn't bring himself to commit suicide. Each time, he would thought of the old lady, wondering if she would be sad. He didn't want her to be sad. Then he would wonder about the cafe, the cat that stayed at the back of the shop, about everything.

He couldn't bring himself to let go of the railing. But now, he felt like he could. She had passed away in her sleep last night apparently, the old lady. He was devastated. Now, he no longer have anything to hold him back. He looked down at the street, hands still gripping the railing as he stood on the dangerously small ledge.

"What are you doing?" He jumped and whirled his head around to see a man glaring sternly at him. He stopped breathing for a second there at how beautiful he looked, with the angry purple all around him, flaring brightly.

"If you're trying to kill yourself, do it out of Namimori." Lies. The purple wasn't dimming even after his harsh words. If anything, it burned brighter. So blinding. The man took a step towards him, breaking him out of his trance. "Do you think that if you die, everything would be better?"

He flinched. "If that's so, then you're a coward." He bit his lips and looked away. "Stop looking back and start moving." For twelves years of dry water work, it was finally working, bursting out of the broken dam.

A few years after, Ryuuichi smiled upon the arrival of the raven haired man, wiping his hands on the dirty apron. "Welcome, Hibari."

_Hibari had propagated a new heart for his shattered one, fixing his jagged edges and his broken soul._

**53\. Abused**

The bazooka was once again, malfunctioning for the nth time. This time, Hibari was shot instead and he exchanged place with his younger self, five years of age and biting a toy. The moment Ryuuichi set his eyes on him, he squealed. Hibari was absolutely adorable when he was younger, not that he wasn't at the moment, but  _really_. Ryuuichi wanted to just  _squeeze_  him.

Hibari glared at the strange man in front of him. He was dangerous, Hibari knew that, but there was something comforting about him. That, and there was no threat aimed at him. He was picked up suddenly and before he knew it, the man was nuzzling his cheek against his face. "Kyouya~ You're so cutteeee!"

Tsuna sweated. 'Oh dear, Ryuuichi's broken..'

"Get off me!" Hibari trashed about in Ryuuichi's grip, trying to get away. Ryuuichi dodged the punch aimed at his face and repositioned the boy in his arms so that he wouldn't accidentally drop him. And then Kyouya bit him on the arm, hard.

That was when Ryuuichi noticed his teeth was particularly sharp somehow. He frowned as he peered down the tattered, abused toy, almost disfigured. "... Kyouya, biting so much will ruin your teeth." Hibari went stock still.

Pink smoke filled the room and their era's Hibari came back with a scowl. Ryuuichi smiled as he greeted him, nursing his bruised arm. Hibari narrowed his eyes at his lover.

"So you're the one..." Ryuuichi merely grinned brighter and picked up the toy. He beamed and skipped away. Tsuna blinked. He gaped once everything made sense. 'Ryuuichi was the one who made Hibari like this?!'

**54\. Tranquil**

Amemori was, by no means, a Rain. Apparently. When everyone realized it, half of them were shocked while the other half had somehow expected it. Ryuuichi was actually the one who's surprised. He found it amusing how his brother's boyfriend was the same as Yuuichi, but soon realized that it wasn't that much of a surprise.

He always found Amemori calming, even though he could be quite a Storm. It was nice.

When Amemori finally joined the Giudizio however, he found it annoying more often than not. Especially when Amemori and Yuuichi ganged up against him.

Damn their flames. Damn their tranquilizing aspects. Ryuuichi made a noise of a dying whale at the back of as he buried his face deeper onto Yuuichi's stomach, shuddering at the hands that were rubbing the back of his neck, shoulders and back. "Damn you guys.." His voice came out muffled, holding no heat in it.

Amemori merely laughed. "If you didn't like this, then stop overworking yourself." Ryuuichi whimpered when he pressed on the right spot. He was getting drowsy and languish. He was drugged. Drugged by the Rain. He had half of the mind really wanting to ban them from doing this to him, but he couldn't find the energy to do it.

It wasn't that much of a harm, but it was seriously addictive. He would be lying if he said he hated it.

**55\. Composed**

Fon sipped on his tea as deafening explosion threatened to burst Lal Mirch's eardrums. She twitched. "How are you able to stand all this?" Fon tilted his head in confusion. "Stand what, exactly?"

She flailed a gesture to the chaos that was getting worst as seconds ticked by. " _This_." Fon turned to the commotion and chuckled. "Oh that? That was nothing. You've seen nothing yet since Kyouya isn't around today." Lal Mirch stayed silent.

**56\. Glad**

It was dark. So damn dark and so cramp that Eliot couldn't breath.  _He couldn't breath_. He panicked and hit the metal wall of the container, trying to get himself out.  _Please please_ ** _please!_**

"Eliot!" His teary eyes widen at the familiar voice. He opened , tried to choke out a shout for help but he couldn't speak. He  _couldn't_. "Eliot!" His breath hitched, clawing on the wall as he got more and more desperate, wanting to get out,  _wanting to just jump into those pair of safe arms_.

The wall was sudden tear off by a large ball of spikes as though it wasn't made out of really strong metal. Light blinded him at first before he was engulfed into a hug by pair of strong, warm arms. "Eliot." Ryuuichi's voice sounded so relief in his ears that he couldn't help but feel the same.

He was so grateful that they had came to find him.

**57\. Stress**

Saying that Ryuuichi can handle stress really well was, well, an overstatement. In actual fact, he can _not_  handle it. People usually thought that he could because he seemed so calm every time when something stressful was happening. Technically, he wasn't even stressed out at that time since he had somewhat expected it.

When Ryuuichi was stressed, he gets more physical and explosive. If he had short temper before, he practically doesn't need it to be angry and annoyed with everything.

Tsuna and Gokudera was the most surprised out of everyone during the first time they saw him like that. He was grumbling and rage-working all his assignments that was dued in three days even though it was given a day before. Understandable, since there was about three of them, and they practically took 50 percent of his marks.

"If they don't shut up anytime soon, I'll  _rip_  their tongues out.." The amount of killer intent Ryuuichi was releasing at how noisy some mid-scholars that were in the usually silent cafe made them shudder. Yamamoto slowly inched away from the teen who was typing furiously on his laptop, sweating bullets.

**58\. Serenity**

It was so silent, unlike how he had spent his life in noises most of the time. So silent, and so calming. Caelum smiled softly as he stared at the village from the tree, all the villagers asleep. There was no commotion happening, no nothing. Just plain, boring night.

He liked it. (But it didn't last long.)

**59\. Colorful**

Mindful of the trays of paint, Ryuuichi stepped over to his brother, sneaking up with a mischievous grin. When he was right behind him, he tapped Yuuichi's shoulder. "Wh-" He slapped his hand on the cheek with a squish. Yuuichi's eyes widen in surprise as Ryuuichi laughed loudly and ran away. Yuuichi smiled as well and dipped his hand into the paint. "Oh you- Come back!"

The day ended with them laughing like maniacs on the ground, dirty with paint from top to bottom.

**60\. Coping**

Ryohei was in awe and horror as he stitched Hibari up carefully with skilled hands. Hibari didn't even flinch the slightest as he pushed the needle in, merely staring at it going in and out of his flesh. He was injured by Squalo, who didn't even hold the slightest remorse as he stabbed Hibari on the forearm, and the wound couldn't be healed by flames since the shark had the mind to use his flames. (Well, Squalo knew Hibari would survive anyway.)

The tranquilizing effect had actually stopped Ryohei's Sun flame's properties on activating the cells to regenerate.

While Ryohei was used to pain just as how everyone in the Famiglia was as well, seeing Hibari staring at him stitching him up with a resting bitch face was amazing, yet scary. Ryohei had questioned it before, (He was pretty sure everyone else questioned it as well) just how was Hibari able to cope the pain  _and_ ignore it like it was ** _nothing_**.

**61\. Boisterous**

Lambo was a noisy brat. That was a well known fact. He was loud, bratty and very annoying at some point. He craved for attention, and he was a crybaby who had the tendency to pop the bazooka out whenever he couldn't tolerate something. He is annoying, that's for sure, but everyone loves him regardless of it. The love every aspect about him, love how innocent he could be at times, how  _cute_  he actually is. Hell, even Gokudera and Reborn loves him. Not that they would admit it.

So when the boisterous kid was silent for once, all of them couldn't help but wonder if something happened, and the rest of the Guardians wanted nothing but to bring their loud Lightning back.

**62\. Placid**

Liu swallowed at how placid Xena suddenly was. It wasn't like her at all, and Liu knew something was wrong.  _So very wrong_. It was worrisome. "Xena-" Liu was about to call out to her when Ryuuichi came out form the shop. He took one look at him, another at Xena and lastly at the group of men walking pass them when he soften.

"Xena, if you want, go to them." She blankly turned to Ryuuichi as he took her hand. "Don't tie yourself down." Liu frowned when she said nothing in return. He walked to her and squeezed her shoulder. "Whatever is it, we'll be with you Xena." There was something flashed in her eyes, before she slowly shook her head. "No.." She shook harder. "No, it's alright." She smiled.

"I've you guys now."

**63\. Tired**

Yuuichi groaned at the loud whistles from the garden and buried his head under his pillows. He could still hear it, however. There was only one person who was capable of whistling so loud and for so long in this house. His brother. He grumbled and threw everything aside. He stomped to the closed window and slammed it open.

"For god sake, Ryuuichi! Please stop whistling!"

Ryuuichi snickered from where he was and shook his head. "Alright, alright! Sorry for disturbing you!" Yuuichi grunted and closed the window again. He flopped back onto his bed and sighed at the silence. He was exhausted from his to-and-fro trip to America, having to settle some things. If anyone made another set of noise, he would-

A loud bang from downstairs interrupted his thought as his eyes snapped open. Oh someone is going to die today.

**64\. Bliss**

Ryuuichi sighed as he laid on his stomach, snuggling into his pillow before he groaned, shifting to his back and sat back up. He huffed and rubbed the back of his neck while rolling his shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Hibari, only in his sweatpants, asked as he wiped his wet hair, just coming out from the shower. Ryuuichi hummed, not lifting his head up. "Sore neck." Hibari raised an eyebrow before pulling a shirt on, sitting beside his lover. He reached over and squeezed his shoulder in a considerable amount of strength, eliciting a relief groan from Ryuuichi.

"You're so tense. Just how long since the last time you relaxed yourself?" He moved slightly as he massaged his shoulder, pressing the pressure points. "Oh-! Don't.. Know?" Hibari scoffed a little and pushed Ryuuichi down so that the younger was lying on his stomach again. He sat behind him and smirked at Ryuuichi's bewildered look.

"W-wait what are you-!" He groaned when Hibari dug his knuckles into his back, pressing on the right spot. "God- There-!" He immediately melted into a puddle of goo under Hibari's skillful hands. Hibari merely chuckled and continued to massage him, unwinding the muscle knots.

When he was done, Ryuuichi had long fallen asleep, absolutely peaceful. Hibari smiled slightly and got off of him. He lied down beside him and pulled him close. In matters of second, he, too, had fallen asleep, breathing even out to the same pace as Ryuuichi's as the younger unconsciously purred.

**65\. Neglect**

Hibari scowled. He growled as he speed forward, aiming his tonfa at Ryuuichi's head. Ryuuichi immediately dodged and brought his bo stick up to block another attack aimed for . Hibari then promptly gave him a round house kick. Ryuuichi wasn't exactly fast enough to dodge it and was hit, threw back as he landed on his back with a groan.

"T-time out!"

"No." Hibari attacked again. They fought and fought for hours until Ryuuichi was nothing but a dead meat on the floor, with Hibari looming over him.

"Stop neglecting your own welfare, small animal." Ryuuichi frowned, knowing exactly where the conversation was going. He didn't like it at all. "Stop putting your problem behind of others' just because they seemed so  _insignificant_ to you. Stop ignoring your own heart."

**66\. Fine**

Tsuna blinked when the door was suddenly slammed open while he was doing his work, looking through all the reports. He lifted his head up to see who abused his poor door  _again_  just as his flames sang. He raised an eyebrow at Dino and Enma, both dragging Ryuuichi along. "Is there something going on?"

The blonde and redhead grinned while Ryuuichi merely sighed, letting himself get dragged along the marble floor. "Let's go to Japan!"

Tsuna blinked again. "What for? I doubt Reborn would allow me though." As much as he wanted to go back to Japan and see his mother, his ex-tutor was a Satan, locking him in Italy even though he had finished his work. Dino came up to his desk and leaned against it, his arms supporting his weight.

"A secret!"

"But.."

"Oh don't worry about Reborn." Ryuuichi spoke up. "I'll convince him. Go and take a break." Tsuna debated for a moment before nodding, smiling at them. "Okay then." Dino and Enma cheered before they let go of Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi stood by the side, fixing his collar as they went around the desk on each side and manhandled Tsuna out of his seat. "W-wait what are you guys doing?!"

"You've been coped up in your office for too long. We're going out shopping in this  _fine_  day to unwind and to buy things."

"Fine day?! It's raining cats and dogs outside!"

"Like I said, fine day."

**67\. Question**

Hibari was watching Roll and Hibird eat when a pair of familiar hands covered his eyes. He reached up to pull it away when Ryuuichi said, "Don't." He paused and finally lowered his hand. "How do the sailors answer their captain?"

".. Aye."

"What is the game people play only verbally, with nothing else to help?"

"Shiratori." He heard a small shuffle behind him. "Who always put up with Hibari Kyouya's bratty attitude since the day he was born?" He twitched at that.

".. Tetsu."

"What does Hibari Kyouya enforces and bite people who breaks it to death?"

"Rules." He blinked under the hand when it was taken away. He craned his head back to look at Ryuuichi, grinning sheepishly at him. "What is wrong with you?" Ryuuichi merely shrugged and leaned down slightly, looking straight into Hibari's eyes. "Who is Shiroki Ryuuichi looking at?"

Hibari smiled. He reached up and pulled Ryuuichi down by the back of his neck, kissing him. "His one and only."

_Aishiiteru, my one and only._

**68\. Energetic**

Yuuichi grinned in a feral manner, eyes flashing as he dribbled the basketball in an even pace, eyes on Amemori. Amemori was scowling in concentration, on defense stance. Yuuichi took a small step forward and Amemori was up against him in split second, blocking him from advancing. Only, Yuuichi wasn't advancing.

He pulled himself back like Newton's First Law has no effect on him at all and jumped, ball positioned to the hoop. Amemori jumped after him, trying to slap the ball away but he was too far away. Yuuichi was still moving back, as though floating in the air. Amemori sweated. His distance from the net was too far for him to make it, impossible. But Yuuichi wasn't a prodigy in basketball for nothing.

Yuuichi shot, and it went in without even grazing the net. "Yes!"

Amemori groaned as he landed, holding on his knees as he panted. Sweat rolled down his cheeks as he shook his head at the that, laughing breathlessly.

"Let's go again!" Yuuichi had already gotten the ball back and Amemori groaned again. "Oh my goddd-- Did you consumed a bag of sugar?"

"Nope." A familiar voice joined them and they turned to Ryuuichi, who looked very amused. "He simply downed about one and a half liter of isotonic drink and orange juice at one go."

"You're exaggerating, Ryuu."

"I'm not." Amemori merely sighed tiredly. Only basketball would able to excite Yuuichi this much.

**69\. Noble**

Yura was born a noble, taught since young how to be one. He was once loved, still is, but he was loved not because of who he is. He wasn't living at all, a doll to his family, a doll to the world for their amusement and entertainment. He went through the change, finally realizing who he had wanted to be. He was no longer loved. Instead, he was sold.

He stripped himself of his title, he pulled himself out of the line just so he wouldn't fight with his brother for it. He became who he truly is, leaving his noble life behind and start from scratch. He found his true  _family_ , and realized that his parents and brother were never nobles.

Those who deserved to be called noble is his  _family_ , who all accepts him as who he is, and love him just the way he is.

**70\. Disgust**

Ryuuichi cringed at the smell of blood and the sight of gore, where some pieces of flesh and organs splattered all around. "This is sickening.." He carefully stepped over the dead men's body, soles clicking silently against the bloodied floor and headed up to the control room, where the enemy's boss should be.

There was body everywhere, none recognizable with how it was, destroyed. Just as he walked into the control room, a body with its brain burst outwards splatted onto the ground in front of him. He cringed again at that, managed to jump back slightly to avoid the blood getting onto his shoe. "What did they do to make you... Deform them?"

Reborn smirked in a bloodthirsty manner that would bring shiver down one's spine, sauntering up to Ryuuichi. He grabbed his chin and tilted it up. "They had the  _gall_ to threaten me, of course." He continued when Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow. "To torture  _mio apprendista_  in  _various_  dirty ways."

Ryuuichi scrunched his nose at that thought. "But that's not all, is it?" Reborn smirked even wider at that as he let go of Ryuuichi. The younger narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest. "They blackmailed you with me and Tsuna, is it? Saying that they had kidnapped the both of us since we weren't in country."

"My dear, they planned to create an orgy out of you with me watching  _everything_." He gagged at that as Reborn cackled. "Well.. Good job then.. Deforming them." Reborn laughed again, a bit too gleeful. "Anyway, let's get out of this place."

**71\. Lively**

"Xena, I  _swear to god_ , if you bring that here I'll-" Ivy shrieked and ran as Xena chased after her around the hallway. "Xena! Stop!"

"Oh come on, Ivy! It's  _nothing_!" Eliot, who was walking to the library, blinked as he looked back. He paled at what Xena was holding and immediately ran as well, joining Ivy. They ran, shouting for Xena to stop when they bumped into Liu and Gilbert. They took one look at who was chasing the two of them and took off as well, but not before picking Ivy and Eliot up.

"What's wrong with it?! It's amazing! Come back!" They ran to the basement, where the training room was, and where Ryuuichi and Yura was, training.

There was a rule in the family, and the only one everyone must follow. (Well, except for not letting Ryuuichi near the stoves.  _That_ , is major.) No one must interrupt one's training session lest they wanted to be sliced or shot down.

Clearly, they were going to break in.

They bust into the training room, almost breaking the metal door off its hinges despite it being  _strong_ , and immediately rushed behind a flaming bow wielding Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi, who was in the midst of launching an attack on Yura with the sharp edge of the bow quickly pulled back just so he wouldn't accidentally killed one of them and ended up throwing the bow into the air. The bow landed a few fit in front of Xena just as she braked her sprint.

Ryuuichi was about to scold all of them when he saw what Xena was holding. Yura's eyes widen and he gulped, hiding behind Ryuuichi as well. Ryuuichi scowled at it.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Xena pouted and held it up. "I just want to show Ivy this.."

"Xena, you're holding a rotting carcass of a dead snake with a parasite on its stomach."

**72\. Power**

Caelum sometimes hated his powers, the ability Death and Judgement had gave him. He hated how he had to set someone's path, hated how he had to put out punishment. He hated how he had to deal with all these head-splitting-headaches.

But on occasion, he was really glad and relieved that he had this power. He was able to bring people to justice, was able to bring smiles onto people's faces. He was able to bring happiness. He had a sin that would never be repented, so he was really glad that he could bring joy, even though it was short lived.

**73\. Pity**

It was a disability of Ryuuichi to pity someone. Everyone in their circle knew that. Sympathy came slowly, but never pity. No one knew why, but Ryuuichi couldn't generate pity at all. His mind would be blank, rendered mute, most of the time. He wouldn't be able to speak, voice nowhere to be found.

It was both a blessing, and a curse.

Because of his disability to pity, he couldn't understand emotions. He didn't how to differentiate between envy and hatred, between like and love. It would take him a really long time.

Though, Ryuuichi didn't mind, not understanding it. He has all the time to learn, and so many friends and family to teach him after all.

**74\. Humiliation**

Tsuna blushed in embarrassment when everyone laughed at him, being his usual clumsy self. He had tripped over his own legs with little to no grace at all and managed to kick a bucket of water, which somehow, managed to splash all of its content onto himself and the bucket landed on his head.

Gokudera yelled at everyone, profanities spewing at as he and Yamamoto helped him up. Ryuuichi took the moment to glare at everyone and promptly lectured them about laughing at the unfortunate, successfully planting guilt in every one of them. He then waved at Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto for the brunette to change, telling them that he would clean this up despite the protest.

Tsuna was really grateful for every one of them, though there was one thing that made him wonder. Why does Ryuuichi spoke as though he had experienced the hardship of being neglected for almost half of his life?

**75\. Satisfied**

Basil and Lancia exchanged a look when Natsu popped out of nowhere without Tsuna's permission and literally jumped onto Enma, who just walked in, during their annual meeting. Tsuna merely sighed in exasperation, shaking his head slightly even though he was amused. "N-Natsu!"

The lion merely purred, crushing Enma beneath him as he snuggled. It has been a while since he had last saw Enma, his second favourite person in the whole wide world, Tsuna being the first, and he absolutely missed him. Deprived, Tsuna would say. Enma huffed at the heavy lion on top of him, giving up. He smiled and patted Natsu with a bright grin.

Adelheid had a blank look on, but she, no doubt, had taken a picture of what had happen. Of course she would. It sells really well after all.

**76\. Thankful**

Gokudera was a brat, very short tempered and explosive, literally and figuratively. People looked down upon him because he was a half-blood, in a sense, because he was a  _brat_. They looked down upon him and cast him away without looking at his talents, scoffing. So when people finally accepted him, he was really happy and glad for once.

The first one was Shamal. He was the one who showed him the ropes, the one who taught him things he could never learn through books and manuals. He wouldn't admit it, but he was thankful of Shamal's 'patience' with him.

The next one was this mysterious person he got to know from the net. He would have never thought that he would personally approach someone he doesn't trust and have no idea who the hell they were. The person was called Drake, with no gender specific, or, that was what Gokudera thought. (He refers him as 'he', however.) Drake had let him rant about  _anything_  at all, answering each one truthfully. Gokudera wasn't foreign to fake enthusiasm, so he could tell. Drake was being blatantly honest after all. But then, he disappeared. Gokudera resented him at first, but then he decided to find him even if it cost his life.

He had never expected that finding his other light brought him to Drake.

Tsuna was the next person who accepted him regardless of anything, even when he had tried to kill him because Reborn said so. Mafia wasn't a place for the soft, after all. Tsuna not only didn't hold a grudge on him, he had  _saved_  him and  _befriended_  him. For someone who doesn't have any friends, Gokudera was very touched. Tsuna showed him his purpose to live, not for someone, but  _for_  himself and those he love. Tsuna made him realized that the world was never that dark. He just saw it that way.

From there, he found so many precious people, some who he had never expected to be in that category. He was forever grateful for them, for their existence. He owe them so much that he didn't know how to repay them. But that's okay, because they felt just the same.

**77\. Hyper**

Once, Reborn decided to shoot Ryuuichi with the Dying Will Bullet. He was curious, obviously, because he had never seen him with his limiters, whether Ryuuichi knew it existed or not, off and totally unhesitant. That, and he wondered if Ryuuichi would strip off his shirt and left with his boxer on, like what happened to Tsuna before.

And so he did. He didn't expect the result he would have gotten.

Ryuuichi skipped all the steps and went into Hyper Dying Will mode. He looked just like Tsuna, minus the flames on forehead. His eyes were flaming instead, figuratively. His eyes were more narrowed and,  _were they glinting in slight blue_? Reborn hummed thoughtfully as Ryuuichi sighed.

"Reborn, this is  _unnecessary_." The hitman merely shrugged with a smirk and continued to observe Ryuuichi. He pelted a pebble at him with a speed so fast that no one saw him move at all. Ryuuichi remained unfazed and merely stepped aside. Reborn whistled, slightly impressed.

Ryuuichi's eyes narrowed even further when Reborn gave him this unsettling glint. "Let's see how fast you can dodge these bullets." Reborn clicked the safety of his gun off.

**78\. Goosebumps**

Ryuuichi felt a delightful shiver ran down his spine when his skin was exposed to the cold air, and the hungry stare Hibari was giving. He felt hair rising from his neck. He unconsciously licked his lips when Hibari pulled his own top off, never breaking the eye contact.

Hibari leaned down and gave him a kiss, touching him in very intimated manner. Ryuuichi gasped into his mouth, back arching from the bed slightly. Hibari ground, releasing the kiss for oxygen, and to plant bites all around the other's neck, shoulders, stomach, thigh, literally anywhere he could touch.

He pushed, and Ryuuichi let out a silent scream.

**79\. Worthless**

_Liu clenched his hands tightly, digging his nails into his flesh and breaking the skin. He bit his inner cheeks hard, drawing blood as his father ranted about how pathetic he was, how useless he was. He had failed to do such simple task that even the lowest ranking members could do. But honestly, how could he, rob 'protection' money from the poor, old couple?_

_He couldn't._

"Liu. Oi Liu." A sigh. "Liu Xie!" The said man blinked to attention, blinking away the ghost tear and turned to Yuuichi, who frowned in concern. "Are you alright? We've arrived." He then realized that the rest were waiting for him to get off the private jet. "A-ah. Sorry." Yuuichi narrowed his eyes at him for a while before scoffing. He threw an arm around his shoulder and pulled Liu to the exit.

"Idiot, you can do it. Believe yourself." Liu pursed his lips before laughing softly. He shook his head. He had definitely grown stronger, physically and mentally wise. He can do this. He'll do this. He took in a deep breath as they stepped onto the land of China.

**80\. Remorse**

"Do you not have any  _ounce_  of remorse left in you?!" Caelum's breath puffed into the cold air as he ignored the glare from G. "Do I even have any in the first place?"

"Cael, you-" Caelum laughed bitterly, shielding his eyes from the other as he turned to him. He took one step forward, his movement faltering only the slightest. G took notice of it and scowled. "Oi- Don't tell me you.." He took another, and promptly fell head first.

"Caelum!" He was caught into a pair of warm arms, the smell of tobacco strong and stinging his nose. It was too hot and too cold at the same time. His head was swirling so badly he blacked out for a moment. He heard curses spewing from G's mouth as he tried to gather the energy to tell him he was alright. "Shit, you're burning up!"

"I.. Alrig-" "Like hell you are. Hang on!" G shifted him onto his back and sprinted to the nearest clinic. He gritted his teeth. He should've noticed, that Caelum wasn't feeling fine. When he had  _slaughtered_  the young man, G should've know that he wasn't in the right mind to decide carefully.

'When did he fall ill? Probably before we even came here.' G cursed again. Alaude would  _kill_  him when he knew that he let Caelum finish the damn mission in this kind of condition.

**81\. Degraded**

The table were literally set on fire out of the sudden. Literally. Tsuna had his eyes shield from sight, but everyone could feel rage radiating from him. The allied Don swallowed thickly, trying to mask his fear. Ryuuichi leaned away from the table, arms crossed. He was  _slightly_  amused, however, as he waited for the ticking time bomb to go off.

"Your arrogance has brought you your downfall, Don Regis. From this day on, our alliance is off and our Famiglia no longer has any ties with each other."

"D-Don Vongola! Please-"

"You're the one who wanted this. So, to amuse you, I degrade myself to a petty man and grant you your wish. Bring him out." The guards immediately dragged the Don out of the door, leaving Tsuna with Ryuuichi, Reborn and Enma. Enma sweated a little, but said nothing about the brunette's decision. After all, even he would be angry if someone labeled his family as annoying, obnoxious and immature brats.

**82\. Revenge**

Ryuuichi snickered silently as he ran away after he surprised Reborn by slapping a pie onto his face when he tricked him into a kiss. Immediately, gun shots were heard as he laughed loudly. Serve Reborn right for dumping a tray of mayonnaise onto him when he was asleep. He hated mayonnaise more than he ever had.

Oh, and the kiss was to infuriate Hibari. That damn skylark had ditched him in the well just to go after a flock of  _herbivores_. (Though, on Hibari's defense, he had made sure that Ryuuichi wasn't injured before running off.)

Ah, revenge is  _so_ ** _sweet_**.

**83\. Fulfilled**

Yuuichi gritted his teeth, wanting nothing but to personally strangle Amemori. Who had given that idiot permission to go on a mission  _alone_? Who allowed that bloody foolish, moronic, asinine  _imbecile_  to go on his  _first_  mission without supervision?

Right, his brother.

Unlike the rest of the Giudizio, Ryuuichi held no remorse as all of them panicked. Yuuichi really couldn't understand his brother sometimes. Wasn't he worried about Amemori? That bloody idiot had disappeared in midst journey across the Atlantic Ocean. By  _boat_. Who in the sane mind would ride a boat when there are plane? Certainly not Yuuichi. Certainly Amemori.

"Yuu, go fetch Hibiki up." He snapped his head to his brother and gave him a bewildered look. A string of profanity slipped out of his mouth, but Ryuuichi simply ignored it with a leveled gaze. He gestured to the window with his head, seeing that he had his arms crossed. Everyone gave him a confused look while Yuuichi narrowed his eyes at him.

Yuuichi warily walked up to the window, only to find himself torn between wanting to throw a dozen of dynamites or  _himself_ out of the window. He took in a deep breath and screamed. " ** _You bloody arsehole!_** " And then he promptly jumped out of the window.

Yura and Ivy let out a screeched and ran to the window, gazing down. They gawked at the sight of Yuuichi clinging onto Amemori like a Koala, only, hands around and tightening.

"You're lucky you kept your promise because I  _swear to Hades_ , I would  _skin_ you alive and  _burn you to the depths of_ ** _hell!_** " Amemori only let out a strangled laugh.

**84\. Shame**

The last thing that was on Mochida's list of expectations was to meet Sawada again. It has been  _ten_ years of lost contact, not that they were in any contact at all in the first place, and he was absolutely surprised seeing the brunette in a bar on the land of England. He was shocked and really taken aback about the fact that Tsuna, the  _Dame-Tsuna_ , was so damn  _gorgeous_ and damn graceful unlike his usual clumsy self. Not to mention that he was dressed in such a high class manner.

Mochida could not.

Now, Mochida had already matured over the years, regretting what he did when he was younger. It took him years to realize that he was such an  _imbecile_  and utter  _idiot_. Sawada didn't deserve all the jeers and bully, and guilt was killing him because he was one of those who bullied him. Well, he didn't actually bully him, maybe only insulting and..

"Mochida-san?" Oh dear  _god_ , why do Sawada  _need_  to notice him?

"A-ah. Long time no see, Sawada." Sawada literally beamed and pulled him onto the chair beside him. "How are you?" Mochida couldn't believe it. The guy whose life he had made miserable was chatting with him like it was  _nothing_. How forgiving is this guy?!

"Still alive and living, somehow. I can see that you're doing  _very_  well.." Sawada laughed a bit sheepishly. "Ahh, well, I kind of.. Inherited a family business."

"Oh, wow." How, utterly,  _crazy_. "So you're still in contact with those two?" By that, he meant Gokudera and Yamamoto. Sawada laughed again. "Yep. In fact, We're working in the same company." "That sounded.. loud?" Mochida wasn't foreign to the fact that the two, stuck to Sawada by the hip, were really noisy  _and_ destructive. Sawada suddenly turned grim as he stared at his bonze, hard. Like he was glaring at it. "Very loud and explosive." Uh-oh. Mochida seemed to have landed on a mine.

Then he realized that Sawada was probably drunk, with how he ranted of that their fights have been causing so many damage,  _so many paperworks_ , and some other things he couldn't understand because Mochida literally zoned out.

Holy shit, did Sawada mentioned about  _Hibari Kyouya_  and  _Sasagawa Ryohei_?!

"Oi Tsuna." Is, is that  _Shiroki Ryuuichi_?! And Mochida thought that he had already,  _vanished_!

"Ryuuichi~! Come on, join me for a drink!" Ryuuichi glanced over to Mochida and raised an eyebrow. He nodded and him and patted the brunette's shoulder. "No, you've enough already. Let's go." Tsuna whined about something that made Ryuuichi rolled his eyes. And then he promptly dropped unconscious.

Ryuuichi sighed in exasperation and hoisted Tsuna up by the shoulder with a heave, managing it without difficulty. He stared at Mochida. "I would probably stay a little longer to chat but.." He peered at the unconscious man. Mochida immediately shook his head. "No, no. It's okay. I'm leaving after all."

He almost blanched when Ryuuichi grinned in a feral manner. "I'll see you next time then,  _ciao ciao_ ~" And Ryuuichi dragged Tsuna out of the bar, weaving around the sea of bodies with ease. Mochida couldn't believe it. And he didn't want to. He don't want to meet Ryuuichi, Sawada,  _nor_  his merry little gang ever again.

Shame, because a week after, he bumped into them again, in a coffee shop this time.

**85\. Graceful**

Reborn smirked as he sauntered into the lobby, clad in his usual black suit and fedora. Everyone, practically  _everyone_  in the room would take a second glance on him as he passed, or longer. Definitely longer. He ignored their ogling, too used to it and went into the elevator. He pressed thirteen and waited patiently, the slow hum of music filling the silence.

At the ding that signified the arrival, he walked out of the open door and to the last room on the floor. Just as he was right in front of the door, he heard the soft sound of piano echoing from the room. He silently clicked the door open and peered in, to see Bianchi playing the piano, eyes unfocused despite looking at the key.

It sounded repeating, looping without an end. She was distracted. He merely stood outside and waited until she stop. He was all too used to this kind of situation, seeing that his apprentice and one of his student's Storm tends to do that when bothered.

It didn't stop him from thinking that she seemed really graceful, however.

**86\. Shining**

Gokudera wheezed as Yamamoto fell onto his knees, body shaking. The bomber was as pale as a ghost, and eyes wide. He couldn't help but gasped loudly, just as how the others did as well.

Ryuuichi was on his knees too, but unlike the others, he was staring intensely into Hibari's eyes. Hibari bristled and leaped away. Ryuuichi immediately gave a chase and left them behind. Yamamoto choked and laughed like a madman, tears springing from his eyes as he rolled on the ground. Reborn's eyes glinted in glee as he threw something shiny into the air and caught it again.

Who would have thought that Hibari would turn into a cat from a bullet made of Mist flames?

**87\. Content**

Hibari sleepily blinked at the teen who was sleeping on him, wondering how he was able to not wake him up like that. He glanced at the clock by the wall and yawned. He turned to his side, causing Ryuuichi to fall onto the bed. Ryuuichi made a dying whale sound at the back of his throat and shifted closer to Hibari, sleeping all the while. Hibari chuckled in amusement and pulled him closer, almost crushing him against his chest.

He planted a chaste kiss on the younger's forehead and closed his eyes, taking in the warmth.

**88\. Feelings**

Death knew that Caelum was full with emotions, knew that the First Historian had wanted to take his own life again and again because of it. The next one was the same, and the next, and the next. But as each reincarnation dragged out, Death noticed that the emotion decreased drastically. It was as if the soul was tired, as if the heart was merely pumping for the sake of it, exasperated.

Death realized that the Historian was getting weary despite all of it. Until the current reincarnation, Death and Judgement had discussed of it, wondering if they should let the Historian's soul rest in peace.

Fate had another idea, and Death and Judgement couldn't win against Fate.

They soon saw what Fate saw and knew, the colorful burst from the Historian, restoring the dull, monotone soul.

**89\. Pleased**

Nana was a happy woman, still is. She was cheerful and optimistic, sharp despite others calling her an air-head. She knew things, suspects them. But she stayed silent, for the voice in her head chanted for her to wait, wait and see. So she did. It paid off, for her baby child soon grew happier and happier. It was worth it, when her husband, after so many years, finally retired and stayed with her.

"Dear! We ran out of shampoo!" She sighed in fond exasperation, smiling as she skipped up to the bathroom. "There should be a new bottle in the cabinet!"

**90\. Relief**

Luce smiled softly as she watched her grandchild, her beloved grandchild smiling and living,  _growing._  She smiled, as she took in how Reborn, Fon, Viper, Verde, Colonello, Lal Mirch and Skull revolving around the little Sky, happier than they ever was. She was glad that she didn't claim them as her's, didn't let them go through the pain when she left, when she broke their bond.

_She wanted to cry in agony at the emptiness._

Yuni has her elements now, and that's okay. She's growing, her family is growing. That's okay. She's living.

Aria shook her head at her mother and patted her on her shoulder gently. They exchanged a look and mirrored each other's smile. They gave the little Sky one last look before disappearing.

Yuni blinked, surprising herself with a lone tear that dripped from her eyes and successfully surprised the others as well. They panicked as she looked up to the sky with a confused gaze.

She smiled to herself.

**91\. I**

_I am a King, I am a scum, I'm god itself, and I'm satan as well. I'm the opposite of everything, and the opposite of nothing. I-_

Checkerface stared at the chess board boredly, moving a piece, the silent clack of the piece placed on the marble echoed in the silent room,  _void_. He was leaning against his propped up arm, cheeks against his fist. His mask was still in place, always was. It weighted of the world. It weighted of  _nothing_.

"Kawahira-san!" He lifted his head up slightly to the darkness in front of him, and a screen suddenly appeared. "Kawahira-san! Are you there?"

'Sawada Tsunayoshi. What does he want?' He opened a portal for the brunette and watched him come into the void. He turned the void into a forest instead, with chairs and a table. The chess board was replaced by snacks and tea. He smiled as the brunette came in.

"Welcome. Do you need anything?" Tsuna narrowed his eyes at him. Checkerface chuckled and took off his disguise. It was no lie that people hated him being Checkerface instead of Kawahira. These children certainly loathe it. "Kawahira-san, we're going to hold a party tonight! Can you join us?"

"Party? I'm afraid I'm too old for this." Tsuna pouted. "No one is too old for party!" Kawahira chuckled again. "Besides, everyone is expecting you."

He raised an eyebrow at that. That was.. Surprising. Unexpected. "Oh?"

"Yeah. We'll be sad if you didn't come." The eighteen years old pouted and gave him puppy eyes, a trick he had learned after all these years with his tutor and friends. How amusing. It didn't work on Kawahira, however, and Tsuna knew that. Still, he tried harder.

It reminded him of the time Sepira and the rest of the Earthlings were still alive, where they would still smile and laugh genuinely.

_I'm alone_.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, I-" "I'm not taking a 'no' for an answer, Kawahira-san. We will drag you there if we must." Kawahira smiled a little, twitched a little. How daring of him. "And Yuni will cry." That's... That's foul play. He merely sighed.

_I'm not alone_.

**92\. Zest**

Yamamoto grinned, all too sharp and all too feral. His eyes were no doubt glinting underneath his blindfold, holding a bat in hand as the scorching sun burned his bare back. He ignored that and chased after Gokudera, who screeched profanities at him but it was unheard to him, as he was wearing earbuds. Gokudera wanted to bomb him, but his dynamites had been confiscated.

"The goddamn watermelon is there you bloody-" His words ended with a high pitched scream when Yamamoto slashed down, almost smashing his head open instead if he didn't dodge just in time.

Ryuuichi sighed as Yuuichi laughed hysterically beside him, lying on his back as he tried to stop it. Ryuuichi merely shook his head in exasperation, fanning himself with a plastic fan. It wasn't that effective, but at least it wasn't that bad. "How can they be  _so_  energetic?"

He ended up asking himself since Yuuichi has clearly lost himself. He sighed again, wanting nothing but to escape the heat. He was under the umbrella, but the sand was hot as well. Why did they make this an annual thing to do? Right, Reborn enforced it. Speaking of the hitman, he was leaning against his back. His sun flames weren't helping much with how much heat he was giving off.

Ryuuichi groaned and leaned forward, causing the hitman lean backward as well. "Why do you need to stick to me? Can't you go bother someone else?"

"No."

He saw Leon flicking his tongue at him from the corner of his eyes. That reptile-

"Tsunnaaa-" He drawled out, whining slightly. "Get your tutor off meeee!" Tsuna gave him a sheepish smile and ran off after Gokudera and Yamamoto, trying to stop them. Damn.

...

"Why are you throwing lemon zest at me?"

Reborn gave him a shit-eating grin. "To neutralize the bitterness."

Ryuuichi leaped after Reborn and tried to shove a lemon into his mouth.

**93\. Tears**

She was breaking. She was shattering under her skin, scream for help inside. She wanted to scream it out, wanted the world to know but would clamp up whenever she tried. Her heart would thump loudly against her rib cage, telling her not to,  _that it's not worth telling them_. That her problem doesn't worth their time.

She stopped and pushed it down. For years and years, she pushed it down, burying it under layers and layers of self-deceit and fantasy. She acted, faked and put up masks. She hid herself from everyone, from her family,  _from Alex_. She was so tired. So tired of  _everything_. She  _just wanted to stop breathing already_.

And she did.

And he breathed.

Ryuuichi found himself staring at his hands, small, soft and foreign, yet his. He found himself staring at himself for hours in front of a mirror, taking in everything. He was sure that he was looking at himself, yet he didn't feel like it. He couldn't get use to it. He was breathing yet again.

_Why?_

Ryuuichi didn't know if he could cope it. He didn't know if he could last any longer. The prospect of death scared him, but he wondered if it would be easier than living. He stayed still instead and waited in silence. His screams died down, but the echo remained. His screams never disappeared, coming back again and again, terrorizing and exhausting him.

He was no longer breaking, but it sure was cracking little by little as he waited.

"It's okay to fall, Ryuuichi. It's okay to stop. If it's too much, push it away. If you can't handle it alone, call me. Don't hide yourself anymore.  _Don't break by yourself any longer_." He soaked Hibari's shirt with tears.

**94\. Building**

Ryuuichi didn't like sand that much, and he was pretty sure the sand didn't like him just as much as well. He had this thing about playing with the sand while talking, he just couldn't stand it. Perhaps it has something to do with his paranoia that he would accidentally eat the sand. Yuuichi, on the other hand, clearly had different thoughts.

The five years old were happily chattering with the other kids as they played in the sand box, Ryuuichi occupying one of the swing nearby as he stared. They were building a castle, apparently, which soon turned into a huge boulder since they didn't have and pail. They didn't mind, so it seem, merely dumping more sand onto it.

A strong breeze against Ryuuichi's face, which he didn't mind until his right eye hurt. He winced and immediately covered his eye with his hand, trying to blink the sand out of it. It didn't work, obviously. It was getting itchy and irritating that he couldn't stop himself from rubbing it until a set of hands pried his off. He frowned at Yuuichi, who was staring at him for some reason. No, not at him. At his eye, apparently.

Damn he wanted to close it.

"What-" And then Yuuichi inched closer and promptly blew his eye. Ryuuichi tilted back a little, a hand on the chain just so he doesn't fall off, in surprise. He blinked again, finding it better.

"Thank you." Yuuichi grinned. "Then let's go play with the sand~ You look lonely here with onee-san." Ryuuichi was taken aback for a second that his brother managed to pull him off the swing and dragged him to the sand box. He looked back at the place he was sitting, to find a young woman with a smiling at him. And she disappeared into thin air.

If he didn't recognize who it was, he would probably scream and run away, but he did. He merely turned back to his brother and raised an eyebrow. (Why did the both of them saw his past self?)

**95\. Optimistic**

Yamamoto hummed a tune loudly as he drove up the hill, head bopping a little to the music. Gokudera, who was at the backseat, groaned at him as he nursed his headache. "Can you shut up? Why are you smiling anyway? This  _isn't_  a trip, idiot."

"I know~ But don't you think this is the moment to be happy?" Gokudera scowled at him with a weird look. Why would Yamamoto thought that it was a happy moment when they were clearly heading to a warzone.  _Why?!_

".. I knew it. You're a psychopath." Yamamoto merely laughed at him. "I prefer the word optimistic, Hayato-chan~" Yep. Damn psychopath. "Don't call me that you bloody weirdo."

The smile on the black haired man stretched even more. And sharper.

**96\. Thrilled**

When Ryuuichi got his first laptop, Kei and Sakura had never saw him that excited before. The young child had literally thanked them almost a million time in a day as he rushed to charge the laptop, with Yuuichi following closely behind. It was adorable, really, seeing how his eyes sparkle that much for the first time.

Though, they soon wondered who taught him to use the laptop because he doesn't seem to need any teaching to know how to use it. Especially typing. Dear god, they have never saw a kid of his age type  _that_  fast. Adults and teenagers, yes, but a  _kid_? No.

"Opps- Mother, do we have a mouse or something?"

Yuuichi tilted his head in curiousity. "Mousey? There's mousey?" He looked around. "Where?"

Ryuuichi laughed heartily at that, happiness heavy in his voice, uncontrolled and free. Kei quirked a smile and shook his head slightly as Sakura cooed. (Kei should be worried that his eldest son would be addicted to the laptop but he couldn't find himself to be concerned. That, and he was too late.)

**97\. Dealing**

Gilbert and Liu sweated at how Don Hayme blabbered about his conditions on the alliances as they stood behind Ryuuichi, who was sporting a migraine. They exchanged a look and wondered if they should intervene before something happen when it was all too late. Don Hayme stopped short on his sentence when Ryuuichi raised a hand.

"Don Hayme, with all due respect, please shut up for a moment." The don sputtered incoherently at how straightforward Ryuuichi was as Gilbert and Liu sighed internally and braced for it.

"First of all, note that you're trying to make an alliance with a neutral organization. We will  _not_  assist you in  _any_  ways if you were to commit 'crime' and find yourself in trouble with the Vindice. Secondly, we  _will_ assist if we deem it alright.  _Thirdly_ , we will  _not_  allow you to do anything on our, Vongola's, Cavallone's  _nor_  Shimon's turf."

"You're being unreason-"

"The one who's being unreasonable is you. I've made it  _very_  clear the moment I started this organization that whoever it is, our priority is to be a neutral party."

"You-"

" _I_ 'm different.  _I_ stand as a different person under the title of the Historian. As a Historian, only those whom  _I_  am bonded, I  _will_  assist."

Don Hayme became redder and redder, and Ryuuichi took it as a sign that the alliance was off. He shrugged internally. Nothing to lose anyway. "Well then, we've another meeting to attend. Please excuse us, Don Hayme." He stood up and walked out of the room with Gilbert and Liu following behind.

The older two shook their head in exasperation. This would mark the twenty-fifth time Ryuuichi had walked out of a meeting room like that.

**98\. Reflect**

Ryuuichi smiled at Hibari, whistling a small tune as he called for the stray birds, Hibird pierced on his head and chirping as well. In his hand, was a handful of bird seeds. Soon, canaries and magpies flew towards him. Some landed on his hand and shoulders, some on the ground, pecking the spilled bird seeds.

It was really amusing, seeing the usually blood-thirsty prefect being this gentle. (Because he wasn't usually that gentle. The bump on the back of Ryuuichi's head was the proof. Hibari was lucky he didn't lash out because he  _really_  dislike people hitting his head.) Ryuuichi had saw this for quite a few times now, having to arrive early enough to see him do this. It was still entrancing despite that.

He closed his eyes and the flashback of the first time he met Hibari played in his mind. Then to the moment Hibari didn't even care of him being approximately one meter away, didn't care that he was there like he didn't care Kusakabe was with him. (Ryuuichi had seen some other members of the committee being bitten to death because being  _too_  close to the prefect. Like, one point five meters close. Really.) And then, everything fast forward to the moment they got together.

He blushed at how  _idiotic_  he was, running away. Seriously, he wasn't a teenager anymore, mentally wise anyway, why was he being shy from a  _teenager's_  action? He palmed his face and huffed.

Hibari peered towards Ryuuichi and raised an eyebrow. He looked at his hand and had an idea out of nowhere. He wordlessly walked to the younger and sat down beside him on the ground. He felt the jolt but ignored it. "Hand."

"Hah?"

Hibari reached out with his free hand and grabbed Ryuuichi's, then proceeded to dump the remaining bird seeds onto it. Ryuuichi screeched a little at that and the birds immediately flapped over to his palm. Hibari chuckled at how tensed he was. "Relax."

"Easy for the one who's surrounded by them everyday to say." He smirked at the half-hearted grumble and whistled again, calling more birds. Ryuuichi would probably squawk out in surprise at the increase of amount of bird if he wasn't already surprised by the tune Hibari was whistling.

"Y-you were listening?" It was something he had composed out of nowhere. It was short, and stupid, and he was pretty sure that he was playing it  _alone_.

Hibari said nothing of it and kept on whistling until the end, and then the melody continued. Ryuuichi's eyes widen. Hibari was continuing the unfinished melody he created out of boredom. He flushed at that and turned away slightly. He couldn't stop the smile from forming on his lips, however.

He joined him in his whistling a moment after, sitting there even after the bird seeds was finished.

**99\. Embarrassment**

_"Boun compleanno, amore~" Ryuuichi grinned, face flushed and eyes glazed. Intoxicated, apparently. Hibari raised an eyebrow at that as he loosen his tie. "It's not my birthday, small animal." The dark brown haired man frowned, lips jutting out slightly. "Noooo- It's your birthday! Don't tell me you've forgotten!" Hibari was pretty sure that it wasn't his birthday, nor was it spring. It was actually winter._

_"Come 'ere! Lemme give you your present~!" Amused by that, he walked over to him, where he was on the floor. That was when Hibari noticed the empty bottle on the ground. He took it and smelt it before pulling it away and scrunched up his nose. Vodka. Someone must have switched his water. He knelt on the ground right in front of Ryuuichi, who was still grinning like a high-on-sugar child._

_"Since today is your birthday.." Ryuuichi swayed a little. "I'll let you do whatever you want with me!" Hibari smirked at that._

Ryuuichi blushed and groaned loudly at that, rubbing his temple. He did  _not_  just did that... Okay maybe he did. The video was the prove. Damn Reborn for taking it. Hibari was smirking smugly at him.

Ryuuichi avoided his eyes as he sobbed internally. Why must Hibari force him to wear  _these_?! As in, Nami-chuu's girl's uniform.  _Whyy!?_  'That's it. Kyouya has uniform fetish.'

If that wasn't bad enough, he was bloody  _chained_  up to the bed post, absolutely rendered immobile. Hibari crawled up to him, eyes glinting in lust.

**100\. Friendship**

Once, Ryuuichi had a weird but surprisingly pleasant dream. He dreamed of everyone, of his brother, of Tsuna and the others, Dino, Hibari, Enma, and a whole lots of others. They were all standing in a circle like when they were breaking the curse of the Arcobaleno. A very large circle.

Everyone had their eyes closed, minus Ryuuichi. The Arcobaleno was no longer in infant form but in their original size, eyes closed as well, standing so still. He was so confused when he noticed a rainbow ball in the middle of the circle.

It was then he noticed a string from the ball connected to Tsuna's chest, then the others as well, and his own.

He touched the string slowly, watching it resonate and pulsing slightly. It seemed to have grown out from his chest, or something. It was  _humming_. He had no idea why.

Though, it wasn't such a bad thing. He smiled and closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in a heap with all of them, all on the ground and sleeping.

**101\. Enthusiasm**

Yuuichi's first family outing was to the zoo. He was really excited about it, after all the cartoon of animals, the pictures, the videos. Yuuichi couldn't wait for it. And when the kid finally got to go, he was left breathless. Literally. It was beautiful, with the various species of animals all around him, some he even got to feed.

But upon seeing the cages, he could feel some tiny pieces of him died a little.

**102\. Triumph**

Yuuichi smirked down at his brother, a hand on his neck as he pinned him down. "I win, Ryuu~" Ryuuichi blinked in surprise before chuckling. "Indeed, you did." Yuuichi got off of him and reached out a hand for him. He pulled him up as Amemori clapped, walking over.

"I've never seen such confusing fight before." The twins burst out into laughter. "Well, Ryuu, you owe me!" Ryuuichi stopped and groaned a little. Whatever it is, never owe his brother, or Reborn. The outcome will never come out alright. Yuuichi merely grinned victoriously.

**103\. Making History**

Tsuna wondered, if he were to be different, born a different person from different parents, would his life be better, or would it be worst? But when he remembered of his mother, his beautiful, sweet  _sweet_  mother, he blanched. He didn't want to leave his mother. He didn't want to see her sad.

He didn't want to be like his father, who made her lonely even when he was there for her.

"What did you see?" He jolted and looked around the roof. He should be the only one up here, but apparently, he wasn't. "What did you see?" The person asked again, from where he was behind the water tank, away from Tsuna's sight.

Tsuna blinked, hesitated. ".. The town?"

"And?"

".. Nothing else."

A chuckle was heard. "Look again."

Tsuna frowned. He didn't understand. As he was about to ask, the bell to the rang, signifying that homeroom would be starting soon. He hurried away.

Two years later, when he went up to the roof of Namimori Middle alone, he stared at the town. He finally managed to shake off Gokudera and Yamamoto just so he could come up here alone, entertained by his thoughts.

He had just remembered the conversation he had with the mysterious person up here, and he wondered again.

"What did you see?" Tsuna looked up to the water tank, the mysterious person is there yet again, away from his sight.

With a smile Tsuna turned to the look at the town again. "My home, my history."

Behind the water tank, Ryuuichi smiled.

**104\. Rivalry**

Amemori glared at Hibari, just as Hibari glared at Amemori with the same intensity. Ryuuichi palmed his face and sighed.

"Mind telling me what the actual hell you guys are doing?"

Hibari growled. "He dared try and kiss you."

"I told you I wasn't!"

The prefect had just the right timing to come into his room when Amemori tripped on top of Ryuuichi, pinning him down with their face inches away. It was clearly a misunderstanding, but Hibari wouldn't listen to any excuse and practically ripped Amemori off of  _his_  Ryuuichi.

And hence, the glaring contest and Hibari twitching to bite Amemori to death while Ryuuichi tried to pacify everything.

Ryuuichi had enough.

"I explained, you didn't want to listen, I had enough." He then literally pushed the both of them out of his room and slammed the door shut.

He was so done with them.

**105\. Unbreakable**

The moment the Giudizio's mansion, their home, was infiltrated by assassins from their enemy Famiglia, Ryuuichi personally took care of it.

He, stood in the middle of the circle, surrounded by ten or so assassins that he led to the courtyard to avoid any destruction in the mansion.

"Before anything, which Famiglia are you all from?" His voice steadily resonated and clearly heard by the assassins despite the distance, his hands in his pockets, his jacket forgone somewhere during the cat and mouse chase.

The assassins didn't answer. He shrugged.

"Figures." They attacked, guns were brought out and shooting, flames and box weapons were used.

It took merely three minutes for all of them to fall, either crippled or shot or burnt. Ryuuichi had his gun out, Sora, Shiro and Kuro by his side, all grown up.

"I'll let all of you off for now. Bring this message to your boss; Give it all you got, you imbecile."

Yura and Xena laughed from the balcony of the second floor as Gilbert filmed everything down. Yuuichi merely sighed and shook his head in exasperation with Liu, for this was the nth time Ryuuichi disabled whomever their enemies sent to kill either of them single-handedly. Though, he had a smile on.

_Send whoever you want, for we will forever stand strong til death._

**106\. Obsession**

Ryuuichi moaned as Hibari bit onto his neck, hands roaming his chest. Their lips locked together as they became one.

Ryuuichi threw his head back and screamed, out of both pleasure and pain, his hands raking Hibari's back, leaving trails of red at his wake.

He screamed Hibari's name as he nipped his ears, rewarded by another shaky moan. "K-Kyouya!"

**107\. Eternity**

Caelum drifted along the clouds, floating as he watched his and Alaude's successor spar, their body gracefully moved to dodge each others attack, and to initiate another.

He had never believed in eternity, let alone eternal love.

But, 400 hundreds years after, he believed.

**108\. Gateway**

He was Caelum first, and Nico the next. During the interlude, he stood by a large gate. To where, he had no idea, but he remained there, staring.

The gate opened slowly, he never moved.

He turned his back to the gate, and walked away.

**109\. Death**

Death had no idea what Fate wanted, or what Fate had planned for the Historian, to be reincarnated in another world, different from its original. Judgement didn't as well. In fact, none knew what Fate was thinking.

They never do anyway.

Death was exasperated.

**110\. Opportunities**

Hibari wanted to kiss Ryuuichi. Really wanted to. They haven't met for almost a month for he had a mission, and he really missed his lover. It was fortunate of him that Ryuuichi had things to do at the Vongola mansion, but unfortunately, Ryuuichi was  _constantly_  surrounded by  _herbivores_.

Because it was the annual meeting between the allied Famiglia and Organizations with Vongola.

He tried to sneak a kiss here and there, but those herbivores just kept pulling Ryuuichi away from him.

He was pissed.

"R-Ryuuichi." Tsuna whispered to the said man and secretly pointed at Hibari's direction, where he was standing by the corner emitting a dark, murderous aura that none dared to approach him.

Ryuuichi turned to look at the Vongola Cloud, and sighed. "Excuse me for a moment." He walked to Hibari, who was glaring at the innocent ground as though it would burn.

"Kyouya." He sounded so exasperated, but fond. 'Cute.' Chuckling internally, he looked around for a moment. No one was looking at them. Good.

He leaned up slightly and pecked the man on the lips. "Patience, okay?"

Ryuuichi knew of how Hibari wanted to push him down right there, right then with how heated his stare was. He gave him a wink and proceed to mingle with the others again. Secretly, he licked his lips, anticipating.

The dark aura Hibari had dispersed.

**111\. 33%**

Ryuuichi never always believed in a hundred percent. Especially with the contracts with other Famiglia other than the Vongola, Cavallone and Shimon. There will always be a thirty-three percent of doubt.

And said doubt never hurt as it helped him throughout the years in the mafia, planning a second or third way betrayed, backstabbed or cheated.

As how he wasn't the least bit fazed when the accuse of Yura a group of young girls from this particular Famiglia. The Don looked absolutely furious as he bellowed at him.

Ryuuichi merely waited for the Don to finish his rant, his hands interlocked in front of him, elbow propped up on his table. Yura stood behind him, scowling but said nothing despite the points.

"Don Lilae." He calmly said, a business smile on. "I can ensure you, that my man did  _not_  rape any of your girls."

"What prove do you have?! We even had the DNA that matched that bastard's!"

Chuckling, he leaned in slightly. "Didn't you know that DNA can be fraud? Besides, Yura was with me the whole time on the dates you had said." He picked up a file and pushed it to the man. The Don turned red in anger and snatched the file.

His face blanched at the pictures.

"Instead, I found  _you_ raping all of them on said dates. It was too bad that you did it on Cavallone's territory. Don Cavallone was generous enough to let me know of your," He paused to find a better word. "Affairs."

He smirked in a sadistic manner. "Let's talk about  _real_  things, shall we?" (Yura almost laughed.)

**112\. Dead Wrong**

Dino had been wondering, if Reborn like Ryuuichi in the way Hibari love Ryuuichi. He noticed all the intimated touches Reborn gave Ryuuichi each them they're near each other, and how Ryuuichi responded to each of them.

Not to mention the not so subtle kisses on the cheeks they sneaked each time.

It made Dino wonder if they were in a polyamorous relationship with Hibari, or Ryuuichi was cheating on him.

"Do you like Ryuuichi, Reborn?"

Reborn gave him an exasperated look. "Define 'like'." He took a sip on his espresso.

"Romantically."

Something twinkled in Reborn's eyes as he smirked. Ryuuichi came up to them with a similar look. Dino suddenly felt afraid, fear for his own life.

"Perhaps we shall show you what our relationship is, pipsqueak-Dino~"

**113\. Running Away**

Liu had been in the triad every since he could remember. He was born into it, being the heir to the head of the triad. He spent hours and hours of training and learning. He took in all his father's beating, all the jeers and mocks from other higher members of the triad, he took in all and let them cage him in this golden birdcage.

_He wanted to be free_.

But once in a triad, there was no leaving except for death.  _Liu wanted to die_.

Until this strange man showed up.

He was finally ran, and survived.

**114\. Judgment**

Occasionally, Judgement wondered if it was a mistake to let a human with abundance of emotions to decide on another set of humans' lives.

But when Judgement saw how the Historian gave the others choices instead of deciding it for them, Judgement wondered no more.

Except whenever the Historian decided to end another's life because of their wrong doings. His punishments are always  _typical_.

**115\. Seeking Solace**

It was a common knowledge that Hibari is a really, bloody strong person despite his soft spot for small, cute and adorable animals. His hits are aimed to  _maim_  and  _punish_  most of the time, landing most of his victims into the hospital. Some, to kill.

He was so strong that no one (other than the rest of the guardians) dared to fight him, let alone be near him.

They believed that he would never break down like a common person.

Ryuuichi doesn't.

The sixteen years old teen stood by the door in a short sleeved green T-shirt and shorts, blinking at the drench Hibari from the heavy storm outside. He frowned and immediately pulled him inside.

"Wait a moment." He immediately ran into back into the house after closing the door shut, coming back with a thick, fluffy towel. He draped it over Hibari's head and told him to dry up first while he drew a hot bath for him.

Hibari wordlessly stared at the towel before his hands moved it. He stared at his feet, and toed off his shoes.

He slowly made a beeline to the bathroom, leaving puddles on the floor. He didn't care about it, and he doubt Ryuuichi would even though he might grumble a bit when he wipe it.

Ryuuichi was dipping a hand into the water to check the temperature when he came in. The teen gave him a look. "Strip."

On normal occasion, Hibari would look at him as though he was suggesting something, but it wasn't. Seeing how stiff Hibari was, Ryuuichi wordlessly did it for him.

He unbuttoned the button-down shirt Hibari was wearing before moving to his trousers, not even the least bit embarrassed. He left the boxer on, and looked up to Hibari, silently telling him to do it on his own. He took the soaked shirt and trousers in hands, and moved around to the put it in the washing machine when Hibari suddenly hugged him from behind.

Ryuuichi could feel how cold the other was, and how his shirt was getting wet. He didn't mind. He placed a hand on Hibari's arms as Hibari buried his face at the crook of his neck.

"Take a quick shower first, alright?" He tried to coax, not wanting him to catch a cold.

Slowly, but surely, Hibari untangled from him and moved away. Ryuuichi smiled softly and plopped the garments into the machine, pushing a few buttons here and there and let it do its work. He heard the water splashing, overflowing slightly, indicating that Hibari had went in.

Ryuuichi walked out of the bathroom and went to his room to take a spare set of clothes Hibari left during the time he came over. Trotting back the bathroom, he placed it beside the towel and went to make two cups of hot tea.

Just as he set the cups down on the coffee table, Hibari came out, hair wet. A crooked smile tugged on Ryuuichi's lips as he pulled Hibari down onto the sofa and wiped the black hair dry.

Once he was done, Hibari immediately pulled him into a tight embrace and buried his face on his shoulder once again.

Ryuuichi sighed and let him do what he wanted, threading his fingers in the black locks.

Both of them said nothing, holding onto each other while listening to the loud pitter-patter of the rain. Days like these, Ryuuichi couldn't help but love how Hibari trusted him to show him his vulnerable side.

But Ryuuichi couldn't fully give him the support he needed.  _He is not Hibari's Sky_.

**116\. Excuses**

"Yura." The teen flinched at the tone of Ryuuichi's voice. Ryuuichi noticed and let out a small, inaudible sigh.

He pulled him into a hug. "I know that you hate your parents, but please don't do this." He gently said. "They're not worth it. Don't make them an excuse to hurt yourself."

Yura sobbed into the man's shirt, soaking it.

**17\. Vengeance**

She never liked her father, but he was still her father even when he told her to sell her own body.

He was still her father even when he told her to infiltrate into the Vongola's mansion and sleep with one of the guardians, just so he could threaten them into a unbreakable contract.

She did as told, sneaking in with great difficulties with the help of her mist flames, in the middle of the night.

And she did as ordered, sleep with one of the guardians. She sneaked into the Vongola's Cloud guardian's quarters, naked .

The raven haired man immediately noticed her presence and pushed her down, a tonfa onto the throat.

His grey eyes narrowed at her. "Who are you?"

Just as she was about to speak, another man with long, dark brown hair came in. The man jolted in surprise at her presence before turning on his heels and walked out of the room in a fast pace.

The Cloud snarled at her when she held onto him just as he was about to take off and chase the other man. He knocked her out.

When she came to it, when everything registered in her mind, the same man that walked away gave her a choice, saying that her father was taken away by the Vindice for multiple charges, human trafficking and slavery.

The man gave her a chance to start a new life as someone new, away from the dirty world and without her father, or join him into his Organization as he would treat him as a human rather than a toy.

She never liked her father, and she never will.

She took up the name 'Ivy' and took the man's hand.

**118\. Love**

Yuuichi wasn't foreign to love, having to fell in love with a handful of people only to let them go when it disappeared.

He wasn't foreign to love, for his family and friends showered him with love that he would never live without.

He love all of them. He treasures them greatly.

Yuuichi fell in love with all of them. And he love Amemori.

**119\. Tears**

On rare occasion, Ryuuichi would shut himself in his room when no one was around. He would stare at the sky, watching it turn from bright blue to amber red and to deep blue. He would blankly look up at the stars, absentmindedly connecting each and one of it.

On rare occasion, droplets of water would dropped from Ryuuichi's eyes when he was alone.

**120\. My Inspiration**

Ryuuichi never really told anyone, nor had anyone asked, but he likes poetry and riddles. He likes how beautifully written they are and how deep the meanings are.

He had written tons of them himself, hidden in a pile of notebook of random stuff and notes.

And he kept on writing them even after ten years, and probably will write it until his hands could no longer moves.

For his family showed him so many different things.

**121\. Never Again**

The first time they fought verbally, wasn't the last time they fought, but it was the most heart breaking one. It involved shouts and screams, pained as words they never meant to say was thrown around.

It lasted until they just stopped, panting from where they stood. Ryuuichi eyes were teary as he tried to keep it in. Hibari was scowling, biting his own lips until they bleed.

Ryuuichi took in a shaky breath and walked out of the room, leaving Hibari with his own thoughts. They both needed time and space to calm down.

That night, long passed midnight, apologies were murmured into each others' skin as they held onto each other. The pain in their heart never left, but they knew that they are okay.

They are okay.

**122\. Online**

" _Ryuu is dying_."

Hibari literally did a double take at how calm and deadpan Yuuichi sounded. "What?"

" _He. Is. Dying."_

Hibari hurried over to the doorway, putting on his shoes. "What happened?"

" _Internet_." He palmed his face, finally noticing the familiar hysterical, obnoxious laughter over the phone.

**123\. Failure**

Gilbert was once Henry. He was once a failure.

He failed to keep his family safe.

He won't lose them again.

" _Goddamit Gil, stop trying to kill our intel!!_ "

Never again.

**124\. Rebirth**

Death looked at the soul of the Historian, floating in front of Death. Death wondered if Death should just let it go and free it from its task.

Death let it reincarnated without doing anything.

**125\. Breaking Away**

The Historian is a Sky without its elements, a sky without anyone by its side.

Ryuuichi knew that, as his flames were never fully bonded with the others. (They said otherwise, however.)

He could never have the kind of relationship Tsuna has with his guardians, how they truly felt each other through their flames without much difficulties. He envy them, but he is happy for them.

He could honestly do without the aching pain of emptiness that hit him from time to time though.

**126\. Forever and a day**

"What is your wish, Historian." Caelum stared at Judgement and Death, tilting his head in confusion.

"You have sacrificed a lot, and will continue to do so. We decided to grant you a wish, in return of your sacrifices."

Caelum hummed thoughtfully. He smiled.

"I don't have one."

Judgement and Death were surprised, but they nodded and let Caelum's soul be reincarnated.

"What is your wish, Historian." They asked again, but this time, to Rue.

Rue smiled, eyebrows furrowed slightly. "I don't have any."

_For I'll live as long as this world still exist._

**127\. Lost and Found**

Caelum leaned in and pecked him on the forehead. It was a quick one, as he soon back away from the stunned man.

A small, melancholic smile was on his face as he left without a word. Alaude never saw him again.

Ryuuichi walked up to Hibari, face devoid from emotions. He stopped right in front of the prefect. He stared up into Hibari's eyes, searching.

Hibari looked at him with the same intensity. He pulled Ryuuichi into his arms and shared a passionate kiss with him.

**128\. Light**

Eliot had never seen the light for a long time. His days were filled with darkness, and stale smell of body odours.

His life was so dull and black.

But his life now is so bright, blinding and warm. He could never ask for a better home. It doesn't smell as well.

**129\. Dark**

Hibari woke up to the dark, and to an empty spot beside him. He groggily pushed himself up and looked around his room, noticing that his lover wasn't around.

He stood up from his bed and walked out to find him, not caring if he was topless. He yawned and shuffled to the kitchen silently, where the light was still on even when he had turn it off before going to bed.

He blinked himself awake upon seeing Ryuuichi staring at a bunch of papers scattered on the dining table, arms crossed.

"What are you doing?" He asked sleepily, the other jolting at his presence.

"Oh, Kyouya. Sorry, did I woke you up?" He shook his head and moved to him, hugging Ryuuichi from behind as he peered at the papers over his lover's shoulder.

"Why are you doing geography in the middle of the night?"

Ryuuichi sighed, leaning back into the heat. "I'm not doing geography. I'm just trying to put figure out where all these," He flailed a hand at the papers. "Streets of Russia goes. Reborn's idea."

He rolled his eyes at that. "I don't even  _understand_  Russian, how the hell am I going to understand those words?"

Hibari squinted his eyes slightly at the tiny words. Surely, those were Russian letters. Even he doesn't understand them. He took his attention off it and bit onto Ryuuichi's neck.

"That doesn't mean that you should do it in the middle of the night." He mumbled into the skin. His eyes narrowed.

"You and Reborn  _sure_  is close." Ryuuichi yelped at the second bite, harder than the previous. He swatted Hibari at his head and hissed at him.

"Oh come on.." He pouted. "I can't sleep."

Hibari licked the skin as an apology. He then turned Ryuuichi to face him. "Then let's not sleep at all." He said huskily, eyes glinting.

**130\. Faith**

When Hibari went missing for six months, everyone in the Vongola panicked slightly. Tsuna panicked the most, unable to reach the Cloud guardian. He had sent Hibari on a small mission which he should have finished it in a span of a week, but he ended up going MIA.

When the brunette rang up Ryuuichi, he realized that Ryuuichi wasn't informed of this.

And yet, Ryuuichi was so calm, as though he wasn't scared that something would happen to his lover.

"Have faith in him, Tsuna. He'll come back. He may be a cloud, but he has a Sky to come back to." The brunette frowned, wanting to rebuke Ryuuichi's saying when the window of his office slid open suddenly.

And a man with spiky black hair and grey eyes popped in like a monkey. Tsuna shrieked.

Ryuuichi laughed over the line to the point that he couldn't even breathe.

**131\. Colors**

Once, in the streets of Paris during the rainy season, Ryuuichi saw two rainbow next to each other, clear and bright in the sky after a brief shower.

Reborn, who was with him as they were both on a hit together, whistled and pushed his fedora up to have a better look. "That's rare."

"They say that there'll a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Do you believe it?"

He snorted. "Wouldn't doubt. There was the happening of the Rainbow Curse, so a pot of gold at the end of it isn't surprising."

Ryuuichi smiled, eyes never leaving the rainbow. "I think it's Home that should be at the end of the rainbow."

Reborn stared. He scoffed and ruffled his hair, much to the other's dismay. "You sure are cheesy sometimes."

**132\. Exploration**

They were cuddling against each other, taking in each others' warmth. It was calming and relaxing, both tired and recharging after a day of chaos.

They said nothing, simply watching the rain drops flowing down on the glass window, lightning flashing in the background. Hibari pulled Ryuuichi closer, as though he wasn't close enough, and nuzzled into the crook of his neck, taking in the scent of citrus.

His hands sneaked under the baggy sweater, brushing against the lean torso. "Hey.. Stop that. It tickles." Ryuuichi let out a small giggle as his hands continued to stray.

The eighteen years old teen pushed Ryuuichi down onto his stomach. He pulled the sweater off and caressed the soft, pale skin of Ryuuichi's back, listening the small gasp. He moved his hands upwards, rubbing the small black spots that littered across his back.

He had seen them a lot of times, and it never stop fascinating him.

**133\. Seeing Red**

Yamamoto could count the number of times Ryuuichi lost his temper with just his right hand. At least, in front of him. Even Tsuna needed the other hand, but for ten years, Ryuuichi's remained the same, five. And today marked the sixth.

Vongola had organized a ball, in order to celebrate the day of its rise. It was supposed to be a peaceful dinner and ball, but someone just needed to cause havoc. "Ryuu, it's fine." He tried to coax the said man, patting him on the shoulder as Ryuuichi glared coldly at the fame information broker. Famous, but arrogant. Why did Tsuna invite this guy again?

"Don Vongola." Oh god, Ryuuichi lost it. Tsuna came forward, scowling but it wasn't directed to Ryuuichi. "I apologize for the trouble caused but may I be rude in your presence?"

"Please be frank."

Ryuuichi nodded curtly, eyes never leaving the information broker. "Do repeat your exact words you had said to my man, signore Nigela." The information broker was scowling as well. "You're an honorable man, signore Shiroki. But-"

"Your exact words."

".. A scumbag from the slum should just rot in the ditch than dirty the floor." Ryuuichi took a step forward, heavy and murderous. "A scumbag, refers to no one but you." Nigela looked alarm, finally realizing what kind of bomb he had stepped on.

"You, who are born in the same slum, has no right to say someone else." Ryuuichi snarled. "While I do not appreciate the jeers people gave to my people, I absolutely loathe your kind who looks down upon them.

"Who the hell gave you the right to say them?!" He punched the man right on the jaw. Nigela fell to the ground with a split lips and a broken tooth. Gilbert quickly pulled Ryuuichi back by the arm, snapping out of his frozen state when he punched the man. Yuuichi rushed forward as well, trying to calm his brother down. The Vongola guardians nor the Cavallone and Shimon didn't move.

"You're all just talks and lies, none of your words are worthy to be remembered. Gilbert is much more capable than you are. If you, or anyone in fact, dared to insult  _my_  people, I will not hesitate to make your life miserable." With that, Ryuuichi walked away with his subordinates beside him, heads held high and proud.

Yamamoto, while was sweating at the commotion, was damn proud of his childhood friend.

**134\. Shades of Grey**

Tongues lapping each other as saliva dripped slightly from their open mouth. Ryuuichi moaned at the pair of sinful, calloused hands moving across his body. He hitched a breath when the hands ghosted up his thighs, all his sound swallowed by Hibari.

"Kyou-" He gasped out before his lips were covered with another again. His eyes were closed, but Hibari's were open, half lidded. He watched how Ryuuichi's expression change. He took in how pleasure took in Ryuuichi, breaking the usually composed look into pieces.

He loves it.

He finally broke the kiss, both of the panting to fill their lungs with oxygen. He leaned in and placed kisses onto the skin, felt it twitching and jolting at the peppery touches, as though they  _burned_.

"K-Kyouya!" Ryuuichi moaned out loud, almost screaming his name.

Hibari loves it.

**135\. Forgotten**

Once, Gokudera had written a letter to Ryuuichi before Ryuuichi disappeared a year. He received no reply. Instead, the letter was returned, unopened.

They had searched high and low for him, not even Hibari or Yuuichi know where he was. They couldn't find him. He left no clue except for the fact that he had left with his weapons and his rings. His animal partners had followed as well. He had just, as though disappeared into thin air.

They couldn't find him.

On the second day after a year of his disappearance, he came back out of thin air, hair cut off and smiling, slightly thinner and with Vindice's chain in tow.

The letter was left in the drawer, untouched as they fussed over him.

**136\. Dreamer**

Caelum wondered if he was born a she, would things be different? If he was born a she, would he last this long and meet Alaude? Maybe, even marry each other?

But he wasn't one. And will never be one. They could never be together, not now, not ever. Caelum knew that.

Yet he wasn't called a dreamer for nothing.

**137\. Mist**

It was cold in the morning, very cold and misty. And yet, Ryuuichi was already up and about. He took his coat and wore it over his thick sweater, long cargo pants with a pair of boots, and went straight out into the woods despite the fact that it was still dark.

He had his hands shoved into his pocket, taking in the cold air and smiled a little. Despite what everyone said of the cold, he still found it comfortable. He carefully stepped over the large roots, subconsciously avoided the leaves and twigs. He walked deeper, and deeper, eyes looking at each trees and followed those he had marked long before, an 'o' with a cross in the middle.

He reached out and touched the marking as he went, barely feeling it, until he came to a small open space where no trees but flowers and dandelions would grow during spring. It was unfortunate that it was currently winter, but it was still a beautiful place.

He immediately lied down in the middle, dismissing the freezing ground and stared up at the sky. He tried, but he couldn't, because of the mist.

He chuckled a little when he suddenly remembered of Mukuro and Chrome. The older one, on the outside looked as though he would be the one who kills Tsuna, but in fact, he was the most protective. Chrome wasn't as shy as she used to be, and is just as deadly as Mukuro.

Honestly, he really think that the Mist would always be the most protective element.

Just as how protective Ivy and Yuuichi are. He chuckled again and spoke to the thin air. "I'll go back when the sun rises, don't worry." The  _slight_  indigo mist surrounding him faltered a little, and disappeared.

**138\. Burning**

Tsuna's eyes have always been burning for as long as Ryuuichi could remember, even the first time they met. There was this small fire in them, that slowly grew and grew as they turned older. It never had died. Tsuna's resolve, apparently, came in form of a fire that never goes out. Burn those who crossed, and save those who loved.

It was a flame, that reminded Ryuuichi of how flicker life of a human is, despite how powerful it looked.

**139\. Out of Time**

The clock struck twelve in the midnight as the bell rang loudly against the night sky, soon followed by the roaring of fireworks. Caelum leaned against the balcony of his late Uncle's room, staying in the lone, silent house that looked eerily like a haunted house. He stared at the Big Ben, miles away from where he was but still clear to his eyes.

He clenched his shirt over his heart, biting his lips. It was a night of celebration, but he didn't feel like it.

He was running out of time already.

**140\. Knowing How**

Hibari was on a mission when he got hurt. It was a lucky shot from the enemy, they managed to nick his heart and puncture his lungs. When Tsuna informed Ryuuichi, Ryuuichi almost fainted.

He rushed to the Vongola Mansion and almost broke down when they wouldn't allow him to go into the surgery room, where Shamal and Ryohei were doing their stuffs. He knew that even if he was to rush in, he couldn't even do anything.

But he wanted to stay with his lover.

Hours after, the surgery was over and Hibari was officially healed. Ryuuichi never felt so relief since the day his brother got shot as well.

He immediately went in and paled at how fragile Hibari looked like. Times like this, Ryuuichi hated himself for not knowing what to do. He waited for the older man to wake up, staying in the room for almost four days until Reborn manhandled him out for a breather.

On the fifth day, Hibari finally woke up.

He was rendered speechless when Hibari had gotten a temporary amnesia.

**141\. Fork in the road**

She hated making decisions, much less those that would determine her future. Uncertainty always blind her and others' words always gets her more than she liked. It annoyed her each time someone asked what she wanted to be in the future.

Just as she was reaching the point where she would need to decide on the road to take, she was thrown into another place and started over again.

He found himself loving every second of his life there.

**142\. Start**

Enma stared at Tsuna. Tsuna stared back. Amber eyes clashed with bright red. They were tensed and alert, standing meters away from each other. Ryuuichi stood in the middle and sighed.

"The spar of the Hyper-Duo, begins!"

The roars and cheers of the two Dons' guardians exploded as Reborn took a video by the side, Tsuna and Enma wrestled each other without their flames. Ryuuichi jumped back and onto a chair, furthest away from them. He made the right decision as multiple needles shot out and almost hit Squalo in the face.

Ryuuichi couldn't understand why Reborn wanted this to happen, and that they could only use no-flame weapons just for the sake of it.

The two complied as Reborn had not so subtly threatened to shove two Chaos Shots up on their arse.

**143\. Nature's Fury**

Ryuuichi and Hibari were stuck in a storm. Literally. It took every control and tight grips on the bolted objects all around to make sure that the both of them doesn't fly off.

They could've been in their rented hostel, watching the storm while cuddling with each other, could've stayed dry (-or not). But Ryuuichi just has to drag the both of them out for this antique shop.

After many struggles and close-call of flying off into the air, they finally reached their apartment. The door slammed close and they leaned against it, panting slightly in fatigue.

They exchanged a look before Ryuuichi burst out into laughter while Hibari rolled his eyes and chuckled.

**144\. At Peace**

Yuuichi threaded his fingers into the long strands of dark brown hair, stroking his brother's head gently as Ryuuichi hugged him close, asleep. There were eyebags under his eyes, exhaustion clear to Yuuichi. He moved his hands and rubbed the back of his neck, massaging it.

Ryuuichi shuddered in relief at that, remained asleep even after that. Yuuichi chuckled, glad that his brother was calmer than before.

Calmer than the moment he was torn between closing himself up from everyone again and letting go.

**145\. Heart Song**

In a world, where soul marks, isn't much of a mark, but a melody that buries deep down in your heart, marking your soul. Incomplete, and rather dull alone, but completed, it was really unique.

Unlike everyone else, Ryuuichi was born deaf in this world. Deaf, but he could clearly understand what everyone else were talking about, mastering in lip reading.

He was born without the melody.

Instead, he sees the flames. The pure, invisible flames from everyone and that it would mix with different colors when they find their soulmate.

It gave Ryuuichi a headache, so he dampened everything with glasses, which helped a lot. Until he met Hibari personally.

An explosion of loud melodies filled his heart, overwhelming and overflowing just as the comforting silence calmed Hibari down.

**146\. Reflection**

Alex had an ability to sense, and very rarely, see things that he shouldn't be able to. She knew that, and believed him. Which was why she never liked horror movies or anything. Because not seeing is more scarier than seeing.

But that wasn't the main reason she hated horror movies. Because more often than not, she would see the reflection of a ginger man through the mirror, instead of herself. She was afraid. But he is no longer scared of it.

**147\. Perfection**

There was no such thing as perfection to Ryuuichi. He never really believed it as everything has its flaw, everyone has their other side, just as how he has. But his heart begged differ the moment he saw his brother with Amemori together.

Despite their jagged, healing relationship, they were so perfect together, fitting like missing puzzle pieces.

He smiled.

**148\. Everyday Magic**

The nineteen year old teen narrowed his eyes at the pale blue glowing ball that floated in front of him. It had been following him ever since the morning after he left his dorm. He tried to swat it away, but it only floated out of the way and stuck to him like a super glue.

He growled, annoyed at it.

And then it pulsed before bursting into small fireworks. Hibari tensed at that and frowned, confused.

_None for you, none for me. All for the world to see._

His head snapped to the haunted tower in the abandoned wing of the academy, catching a brief flash of grey. He scowled.

A teen with dark brown hair smiled before disappearing into thin air.

**149\. Umbrella**

Hibari couldn't believe his ears. Ryuuichi was actually singing in front of him while washing the dishes and swaying his hips to the beat, the radio blasting the English song from its spot on the cabinet. The older teen was awestruck at his voice, and the fact that he was voluntarily singing in his presence when it took him almost half a year to sing in front of him, even the stupidest song of all. (It wasn't, to Ryuuichi.)

"You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh, under my umbrella~" The seventeen years old sang the chorus loudly, hips jerking side to side.

Hibari couldn't be anymore aroused by that.

**150\. Party**

There was a few rules when they hold a party. One, never let Hibari have liquor, or any beverage with alcohol. Two, never let Ryohei force Hibari to drink. And three, never play any form of drinking game with Ryuuichi  _and_  Reborn combined.

A highly intoxicated Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes when the white ball rolled into a spot and took the beverage with a scowl. Vodka. It burns. He downed it without any second thoughts.

"Your turn, Reborn." He slurred as the hitman spun the roulette board. It landed on Gin. Reborn downed it in matters of second. The others, those that were still awake, stared in horror at how much they could drink.

Xanxus was amused.

Ryuuichi bit his lips. The last one. He spun the roulette and groaned loudly. Reborn smirked. "I win. Now drink it." Ryuuichi clicked his tongue and sighed. He downed it and slammed the glass down.

(The audiences groaned and cheered at their bets.)

Ryuuichi huffed and leaned against the table with his head supported by his arms, peering over at a scowling Hibari. He hummed, face a little flush before he walked up and sauntered over to the older man, his steps faltering slightly. Everyone stared in silence as Ryuuichi plopped onto Hibari's lap.

"Remind me not to drink for another year." And he pulled Hibari into a kiss right in front of the others. Immediately, Hibari's hands were moving, shirt getting crumpled. The Varia whooped as Reborn took a photo. Tsuna shrieked and ushered everyone out.

**151\. Troubling Thoughts**

Gokudera bit his lips as he ruffled his sliver hair, pacing around the room. He was very worried. And anxious. Tsuna was ambushed by some assassins on the way back to the mansion. Fortunately for the brunette, as the driver was killed with a headshot, he only suffered a minor concussion, a few broken ribs and some scratches.

Ryohei was attending him at the moment, but it was taken too long for these injuries. Too long for his liking.

Stupid thoughts filled his mind as he desperately tried to be positive. He failed, obviously.

Yamamoto frowned and grabbed him by his shoulder, stopping his pacing. A firm, reassuring squeeze was given to him as Gokudera slumped.

He perked up the moment Ryohei came out with Tsuna in tow.

(Ryuuichi toed the dead driver, a blank look on his face. This was no accident.)

**152\. Stirring of the Wind**

He was once Caelum, and then he was Nico next. Now, he is Ethan, occasionally a she, but currently a he. Ethan had no memories of his past life except for the fact that he had been through two reincarnation and the name Caelum and Rue would forever implant in his mind. It had been there ever since he was born.

But Ethan was different.

He has no emotion and no sense of pain, born with a disorder that left him blank. He had stayed blank for years now, but no longer.

Vindice arrived the night of his seventeenth birthday.

**153\. Future**

The ten year bazooka was, in a way, very intriguing. Also annoying. To the fifteen years old Ryuuichi anyway. He and Tsuna, was shot by that accursed thing for the nth time since Lambo came canon-balling into the brunette's life.

He sighed in exasperation as the pink smoke disperse, Tsuna gaped for some reason. Ryuuichi blinked at the sight of seeing their older selves in front of him. His counterpart looked rather amused than anything, while Tsuna's raised an eyebrow.

"I take that the bazooka malfunctioned again." Ryuuichi's older self, Shiroki, to avoid anymore confusion, mused, a Reborn-smirk on his face. Sawada was exasperated.

"Or Giannini got his hands on it again." It happened too many time for Sawada to be fazed at all, actually.

"W-wait!" All of them turned to Tsuna when the brunette squeaked at the sudden attention. "U-um doesn't this create a time paradox?!" Ryuuichi nodded and turned to their older selves, agreeing with Tsuna.

"In another circumstances, it will." He tilted his head in confusion at his older self as Shiroki chuckled. "Have you not noticed that we're all somewhere else?"

A fifteen years old Eliot jolted upon seeing his father figure and his friend split into two, his era's Ryuuichi gone.

Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow at the teenager. Tsuna blinked as Shiroki walked towards Eliot and patted him on the head. "You've grown so much. Good." Eliot seemed as though he wanted to say something through his gaping but the four of them went back to their respective time before he could.

There was only one thing in Ryuuichi's mind. 'What the hell.'

**154\. Health and Healing**

Yuuichi had caught a cold, hitting 40 degrees Celcius in one night and had to be warded into the hospital. It was influenza, they say. Ryuuichi merely dismissed that and took care of his brother the whole time. He was concerned. Hibari had gotten influenza before, but that was way before they got together. And the fifteen years old teen had never seen the prefect catching another one yet.

It looked painful and tiring. Being sick was already a nuisance, but influenza? Gosh.

Ryuuichi gently pushed the stray strands of hair from his brother's face, smiling slightly. The fever had dropped significantly, actually. Yuuichi looked more relaxed than before, thankfully.

He lied on his arms and stared at his twins face, holding his hand. "Hurry up and get well soon, Yuu."

**155\. Separation**

When they were forced to break up because of the thought of long distance relationship, Yuuichi cried silently in his room for almost a week. He had never realized how much he loved Amemori. When he finally went to Italy with his brother, he was home sick. He missed Amemori so damn much that he was constantly overworking himself to forget everything. Ryuuichi sternly put his feet down and forced him into taking two weeks of vacation every two months.

He never realize that it hurt so much to be separated from someone.

**156\. Everything For You**

Amemori peppered soft kisses down Yuuichi's collarbone, cuddling against him. He pulled him into a slow, lazy kiss as his hands held the other by the waist, rubbing softly.

"What do you wish for your birthday, love?" He asked as the kiss was broken. "I'm fine with anything-"

"Hush. Tell me something you really want." Yuuichi blushed a little.

".. Then, your everything." Amemori grinned and kissed him again. "I've long given you my everything."

**157\. Slow Down**

Dino shrieked at how fast Ryohei was driving, Ryuuichi leaning against him and already out of it. "W-w-wait Sasagawa! Slow down! You're killing the both of us!"

"Nonsense! This is nothing! You should see Gokudera and Yamamoto's extreme race!"

And Ryuuichi thought Hibari was a reckless driver.

**158\. Heartfelt Apology**

He received a bouquet of purple hyacinth on the first day. He flushed a little, but with a smile. He received pink carnation the next, he couldn't help but grinned brightly. He arranged it neatly in a vase and placed it near the hyacinth.

On the third day, he opened the door to a large bouquet of red and white roses, and Hibari holding them. Ryuuichi laughed a little. "Isn't this a bit too much just because you missed the date?"

"It isn't just a date, Ryuuichi." Hibari kissed him. "It was your birthday. I'm sorry." Ryuuichi merely pulled him back into the kiss. "As long as you're still mine, I don't care about anything else."

**159\. Challenged**

Amemori hissed at anyone that dared to come near him and Yuuichi, pulling the latter close as he gripped onto his hand tightly. Yuuichi sighed in exasperation at his boyfriend's behavior. "What's wrong? No one's even trying to break us apart."

Oh they weren't. They were only trying to get into Yuuichi's pants.

Yuuichi is his and only his. The others could keep their stupid wands in.

**160\. Exhaustion**

The first time Ryuuichi fainted out of nowhere was during the sports festival of his second year of high school. He, by some shitty luck, was chosen as one of the sports committee for the festival. Fortunately, he had gotten under basketball. Unfortunately, he was treated as the manager. Don't get him wrong, he didn't mind it. But he swear to god, that he would really like to punch them for being so dependent on him. Like, they even need him to  _wipe_  their bloody sweat when they clearly has the energy to do it.

(He actually did punched one of them. For various reason.)

So on the day of the festival, he had woken up with a headache caused by his twenty-four seven working brain. He ignored it, only taking two pills of painkiller in the morning and went with it.

He fainted out of nowhere in the middle of the semi-final game. According to Kyoko, who was in the same department, said that his brother had literally abandoned the game and swoop him up to the infirmary. Actually, it was Hibari, who flew down from nowhere made everyone stop playing. Yuuichi noticed that and immediately took him to the infirmary as the prefect opened a path for them.

Ryuuichi sometimes hate his immune system very much. He had gotten a fever with migraine constantly trying to split his brain into two.

"Next time, I'll kill you myself if you overwork." Was what Yuuichi said. He merely laughed dryly at that and went back to sleep.

**161\. Accuracy**

Reborn smirked haughtily as he lowered the smoking rifle, Ryuuichi whistling in impress. "That was, what? Your 39 thousand head shot? Not including real humans."

"To be exact, 39989." Ryuuichi sweated. "... O..kay?" And then he started shooting with his own rifle. At some point, because he still had a shoulder injury and the recoil was really strong, his aim started slipping lower. The bullets hitting the mannequin on the.. Lower part.

He stopped and winced. Even Reborn was grimacing internally but raised an eyebrow instead. "Who angered you?"

" _Dio-_  it wasn't on purpose!"

**162\. Irregular Orbit**

In another world, where Ryuuichi and Hibari was born in separate places, where Ryuuichi was born in the outskirt of Aikita and Hibari, in Tokyo. In another world, where none of them were involved in the mafia, where Ryuuichi had no memories of his past life and where flames doesn't exist. Ryuuichi and his brother soon left Japan to live with their older cousin, Dino, who was a owner of one of the most famous companies in the world in Italy when they were twelve. They lived there until they got into university, before moving back to Japan and lived in Tokyo for this exchange program.

At the same time, Hibari moved to China to further his studies on crime, living with his uncle, Fon, who was a famous lawyer. Years after, Ryuuichi became an accountant for his cousin's company while publishing novels under the pen name Luka, while Yuuichi became the nasional basketball player for Japan, also a model. Ryuuichi permanently moved to Italy as Yuuichi stayed in Japan, both of them occasionally visited each other.

Hibari became a police, soon rose into the head of all the police in Japan for some reason, staying in Japan for the rest of his life.

None of them met each other, until Yuuichi reported that he had a group of stalker that was waiting to kidnap him. Just his luck, he had gotten Hibari working on his case. Yuuichi dared not to go back alone and stayed with Hibari until his brother came from Italy.

And when Ryuuichi arrived, Hibari was tempted to lock him up instead.

**163\. Cold Embrace**

Caelum didn't know this, but when Alaude finally found him after all the years he had gone missing from the surface of the world, it was when he had passed away. It was winter, and Alaude went to London to find him. He had been finding him for years, non-stop, searching for leads and when he did found one, it led him here. Caelum's late uncle's house.

He went into the cold cottage, there was no one around, lifeless and full of dust. He searched high and low to see if there was indeed anyone or anything at all that indicates Caelum was here, but he found none.

He ventured into the back yard, he saw a body on top of the pile of snow. It was Caelum, sleeping peacefully like a sleeping beauty but instead of beauty, he looked weary and sick, pale. Too pale. His lips were blue, the tip of his fingers frozen.

Alaude realized that he was dead, about a day before the snow falls since the body hadn't start to rot. Alaude cursed, for why hadn't Caelum wait for him. He carefully carried the body into the house, trying and failing to ignore the cold skin despite his own despair.

He gave him a proper burial. A year after, a day before the same day, he joined Caelum, and the rest of the guardians.

**164\. Frost**

Hibari murmured sweet nothing into Ryuuichi's neck, hugging him from behind. Ryuuichi hummed at that, browsing the internet on his laptop. He clicked open a video by mistake and cursed under his breath. Just before he was able to close the tab, a loud scream followed by a man-made ghost popped out onto the screen.

The older teen raised an eyebrow when Ryuuichi jerked and stiffen. He shifted a little to look at his face to see him frozen with wide eyes. Hibari couldn't help but laugh.

**165\. A Moment in Time**

Human are such fickle creatures, living only for a short moment of time. Knowing this, Ryuuichi doesn't get attached to them. In fact, he doesn't attached to anyone other than his brother, the King of Life whereas he is the King of Death. Yuuichi brings every living being in this world to life, while Ryuuichi brings them to afterlife. They balanced out, in a way, rather than having conflicts. They do occasionally fight, but only over stupid matters.

Anyway, Ryuuichi doesn't get attached to them. He does approach them in his disguise at times, when one or two of them interested him, but he would still be distant. The other world was too  _boring_ , and his job, in general, is too  _boring_. He just couldn't stand it. He usually cures the boredom by sparring or approaching humans, but seriously, plain and dull.

And then  _he_  came into the world. Yuuichi probably brought  _him_  to life from one of the souls that was scheduled to be reincarnated, but the moment Ryuuichi set his eyes on  _him_ , he was very intrigued. So he watched over  _him_  the first few years, finding himself smiling at how adorably feisty yet endearing  _he_  was. The kid was able to see him when he was a month old, still unable to comprehend things.

Two years passed, another set of kids came to life in the same world as the interesting toddler's. All were interesting, much more interesting than he had expected, but the kid he watched over was still the most interesting one.

"How long do you plan to hover around me?" Hibari Kyouya, seventeen and was actually still growing, snapped, tonfa out. The teen growled at the man with long dark brown hair, floating above ground.

Ryuuichi blinked in surprise. "Oh? You could see me?" How unusual. Normally, Fate or Sight wouldn't allow this to happen unless Fate planned something. Which actually, happened quite frequently. He hummed in amusement instead, pleased despite Hibari was getting more irritated.

"Who are you?"

Ryuuichi smiled. "Death." He floated nearer to Hibari. Every ounce of Hibari's body screamed at him to run, but his pride wouldn't allow it. He stayed put. Ryuuichi cupped his cheek with a hand and looked into his eyes. "How  _interesting_.."

Hibari shuddered at the cold touch, and the tone of Ryuuichi's voice.

**166\. Dangerous Territory**

The moment someone tried to sneak a hand on Ryuuichi's bottom, he was taken down with a tonfa flying to his face out of nowhere. Ryuuichi blinked in surprise at the fallen man and reached down to take the tonfa as Hibari, with a dark look, descended from the stairs.

"Are you alright?" Ryuuichi reached a hand out for the man to take. The man took it with a stutter and was pulled up. His hand lingered on Ryuuichi's a split second too long when Hibari's grey eyes glinted menacingly and pulled Ryuuichi to his chest. He growled lowly at the frighten man and guided the younger away, an arm around his waist.

"You shouldn't have go for the Giudizio's head." The man squeaked at Fran's sudden appearance. "He's Cloud's territory."

**167\. Boundaries**

Ryuuichi screamed, hitting the glass wall as he tried to break it. He screamed until his voice was hoarse, throat hurting. His eyes filled with panic as his hit got more frantic, harder and harder. Hibari gritted his teeth and did the same, punching the glass wall that separated the both of them. He cursed everything, cursed whoever set this up, whichever sick shit did this. Their eyes set on each other as some sort of gas filled the container they were in.

" _Ryuuichi!_ " " _Kyouya!_ "

**168\. Unsettling Revelations**

Caelum heaved a heavy breath, leaning against the back rest at the news. The man in front of him, G, was solemn, hands intertwined together on the table as a cigarette hung on his lips. "W-what do you mean Daemon had betrayed us?"

**169\. Shattered**

Occasionally, Reborn would dream of screams, dream of pleads for their life. Then came loud gun shot and red, so red that Reborn couldn't help but get sick of it. But he was used to it. Some other days, he would dream of flying, soaring in the sky and absolutely free, until he was chained, cuffed and dragged back down onto Earth. He would be Earth-bound until the end of his life. He had fell like Icarus.

Then came Tsuna, who broke the chains for him, shattering the one thing that held him back.

He could never be more grateful for his whole life.

**170\. Bitter Silence**

Ryuuichi toed the debris of the once strong building, now burnt and crumbled down. The Vongola Mansion had fallen. Ryuuichi stepped over the cement and over the body, heading into the building with his hands in his pocket. This mansion was once filled with noises, chatters, filled with  _life_. Now, it was no more.

He never really liked silence, and he hated it even more now. He ignored the bitter taste in his mouth and went to Tsuna's office.

"Welcome, Historian." Byakuran greeted him gleefully, sitting on the table while rolling a marshmallow in his mouth. Behind him, Tsuna sat on the chair with his forehead bleeding, looking peaceful for some reason.

Ryuuichi stared back at Byakuran with his emotions locked.

**171\. The True You**

Hibari is a person full with secrets alright. No one knew much about him, much less why he used those animal metaphors and all. No one knew whatever he was thinking. It was as though he hid his true self under layers and layers of violence. It seemed so impossible to make him shed all of it without getting killed.

And yet, Ryuuichi was able to shed each and every one of it effortlessly, breaking through the fort to his heart like it was  _nothing_.

**172\. Pretense**

"Is my love nothing but a lie to you?" Ryuuichi recited, agony and betrayal clear in his facade. He took one step forward as the girl took a step back, shaking her head. "My darling, please tell me, do you love me, or do you not? Do you  _trust_ me?" She frantically shook her head, sobbing into her hands and apologized, muttering it again and again.

"I.. I'm so sorry.." Ryuuichi locked his jaws and clenched his hands. He lowered his head. "Very well then. My sincerest apology for bothering you. Farewell, Milady." He bowed and walked away, leaving the girl behind as she collapsed onto her knees, still sobbing.

The moment he was right behind the curtains, away from public eyes, he heaved a sigh and leaned against the wall. He pulled at the tie, grumbling at the heat. "That was brilliant, Ryuu." Yuuichi grinned. Ryuuichi gave him a wry smile and patted him on the shoulder as he walked pass. "Good luck, brother mine."

Yuuichi gave him a thumbs-up as he walked out onto the stage. "My dear, what has brought you grief-" Ryuuichi shook his head and tuned everything out. He trotted to the backstage and sat on the chair with a relief sigh. He thanked one of the backstage crew when they passed him a bottle of water and literally downed it at one go. All this acting had tired him out.

'Why did I sign up for this again..?'

"'Is my love nothing but a lie to you?'" He snapped his head to a smirking Hibari and groaned. "My love, please enlighten me, do you love me, or do you  _love_  me?" Hibari grabbed his hands and pulled him to his chest, holding him by the waist. Ryuuichi flushed and tried to pull away, to no avail. "Kyouya, we're in  _public_." He hissed, well aware of the wide eyes people were giving them.

Hibari merely glared at them, forcing them to look away before turning back to Ryuuichi. "What is there to hide when it's clear as daylight?" He leaned in until their faces were only inches apart. "Let's cut all the pretense, shall we, my love?"

Ryuuichi huffed. "This is so unfair. Stop reciting those lines. They weren't even mine." Hibari chuckled lowly. "But you like it, didn't you?"

"Shut up you cheesy boyfriend."

**173\. Patience**

Tsuna clicked his tongue and tapped his feet impatiently, biting his nailed. He soon started to walk around in circle, getting more restless as each second passed. Haru took one look at him and laughed. "Tsuna-san, calm down. Kyoko-chan will be fine." He ruffled his hair and grunted indignificantly. "But it's taking too long." Gokudera grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him onto the chair inbetween him and Haru.

"Juudaime, she's right. Sasagawa will be alright. She has Shamal and her brother after all."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about." The brunette grumbled when his trained ears picked up the sound of wailing. He perked up and immediately rushed into the ward. Gokudera and Haru exchanged an exasperated look before laughing softly.

**174\. Midnight**

Caelum grimaced at the blood that managed to splatter onto his face. Alaude scoffed at him and pulled a cloth out of nowhere, wiping his cheek. "You don't have to-"

"Stay still or I'll poke your eyes out." Caelum huffed at that but stayed put, closing his eyes just in case. He felt Alaude rubbed the same spot for a while before a hand replaced the cloth. Caelum jolted and gave him a incredulous look. "W-what is it-"

Alaude pushed his bangs away and stared at one spot, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I didn't know you have this scar."

"Oh. Uh, I had it since birth? I don't know. Wait how did you see it? It's almost invisible." He gave Caelum a deadpanned look, rubbing at the small scar slightly. Caelum shuddered a little and pulled away. "Let's get back. It's pass twelve. Giotto will be worried."

Alaude scoffed. "Since when does he not worry?" Caelum rolled his eyes at him but they soon made their way back to the estate, the crescent moon lighting their path.

**175\. Shadows**

It was dark, and only her. She looked around in fear. It was too dark, even when she could see herself. Too dark, and too cold. Her breath hitched when something touched her leg and tried to shake it off, to no avail. She peered down, to see something black curling around her legs, clinging onto it. And another one latched onto her leg, one managed to grab her hand.

She screamed in fright and ran, but the shadows simply clung onto her as she did, chasing and grasping her, pulling her back. She yelped prayers, trying to escape the vice grips, sobbing.

He woke up to the light blinding him, and a series of pain shot up from his torso and his chest. He screamed in pain, trashing as hands held him down onto the bed, shouts of order to jab him with anesthesia. "Ryuuichi! Calm down! Ryuuichi!" He heard his name being shouted, but he couldn't stop himself from screaming, hyperventilating.

"Ryuuichi!" A pair of hand pulled his face to the side and he saw a man with black hair and bluish black eyes looking into his eyes. He couldn't process who it was, only with the thought of wanting to escape. "It's alright, calm down! Breathe, Ryuuichi.  _Breathe_!" He jerked at that and gasped silently, focusing at the eyes.

"That's it, breathe. In, out. In, out." He followed the command, finally stopped screaming. Soon, his eyes rolled back and he blacked out.

**176\. Summer Haze**

Amemori missed the beach. He missed the sea, the hot breeze of Summer air as all of them played around in the beach, the scorching sun against his skin, the cold, salty water. More importantly, he missed Japan. He missed Kyoto and his family, he missed Namimori.

He was officially homesick after not visiting Japan for almost two years.

He sighed tiredly as he slumped onto the table, staring out into space. ".. What is wrong with you, Hibiki?" He ignored Yuuichi's question and only sighed again. Yuuichi narrowed his eyes at him and pelted him with an ice cube from his glass of cold juice. It hit him square at the back of his head, but Amemori didn't respond.

Yuuichi sighed. "Keep that up and we'll leave you here." That got Amemori's attention as he turned to look at Yuuichi, head still on his table. "What are you talking about?"

Yuuichi scoffed. "You weren't listening when Ryuu was talking, were you? We're going back to Japan for a holiday. All of us."

Amemori perked up, eyes sparkling. "Seriously?!" He ignored the eye-roll and promptly leaped at his boyfriend, cheering loudly. "Gah- Get off me, idiot!"

**177\. Memories**

Caelum pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed through his nose. He was having a migraine, all caused by his memories. He just had to have dig up the old stuffs, don't he? He sometimes really hated his ability to remember so much.

_The loud deafening bangs of gunshot forever encrypted in his mind, ringing in his ears even though he tried his best to drown it out._

Shaking his head, he walked out of his room to find Asari. He really need some sleep.

**178\. Change in the Weather**

Ryuuichi jumped at the loud roar of thunder and turned to the window to see that there was a storm outside. He sweated at the loud rattling of wind from the window. It was still so bright and sunny just now. He huffed and turned off his laptop, switching off any electric appliances to avoid any short circuit. (It wouldn't happen even if he didn't turn it off, but it was a force of habit.)

The thunder roared again and this time, Ryuuichi screamed. It wasn't because he was scared of the thunder, (He loves it, actually.) but it was because Hibari literally popped out of nowhere from behind, in total silent. Or, it was because of the thunder. The prefect was literally soaked.

"God- go to the bathroom!"

**179\. Illogical**

"You're making-!" Ryuuichi gritted out, grimacing in pain. "-No sense at all!" "I never said that it'll be logical." Push. Ryuuichi yelped. "Ouch- Stop!" Reborn sighed, only pushed his back forward more. "Your flexibility is really pathetic for someone who knows martial arts."

"Yes, I suck at it, so- Goddamit stop trying to fold me into half! And I don't think doing a split out of nowhere is  _seductive_!"

**180\. Only Human**

Hibari clenched his hands as Ryuuichi turned on his heels to leave. They were having an argument, and it had dragged to the point none of them wanted to continue it anymore, but did because of their pride. They were both prideful, and very stubborn. It was until Ryuuichi couldn't take it anymore and dropped everything behind.

Hibari wanted to reach for him, wanted to pull him back and hold him tight, but he couldn't move. He had never thought of it before, and had never expected that something like this would happen. He didn't know what to do, and it hurt, seeing him leave. So he resorted to watch the younger until he disappeared from sight.

And then, Ryuuichi unexpectedly turned around and sprinted to him. He literally jumped onto him. Hibari was taken aback that if it wasn't for the years and years of training, he would have fallen down from the force. "What-" His mouth was covered by another, tongue persuading him into a dance.

He returned the kiss just as hard, in a rather feral yet desperate manner. It was an unspoken truce between the both of them, whatever their argument was about forgotten almost immediately as clothes started leaving their body.

**181\. A Place to Belong**

Eliot wanted a home. He never had one. He never thought he would have one. The closest place he could call 'home' was the small, dark closet he sleep in, dirty and smelly. It was cold and cramp, but it was better than the cells he would forced to stay in when he did something wrong. It gave him more sense of security because it wasn't that big, and he knew he would be alright in there, alone.

And when he found his home, he realized that home was so much more. Home is the place of sanctuary, full with warmth and love. Home is where he will be safe always, where people will look out for him and care about him. Home is much a better place. The Giudizio is his home, and he love it.

**182\. Advantage**

Alex had once said that her kindness was taken advantage of. He was infuriated, angry and wrathful, wanting to teach those people a lesson. She stopped him, saying that they weren't. Alex wanted to prove her otherwise, but backed down because she didn't want arguments or fights. He knew what they were doing, he knew that she knew as well, and he couldn't understand why she don't show them that she wasn't a pushover.

He wanted them to know that she wasn't one.

But he also knew that she didn't want anyone to know that she wasn't one, because she didn't want anyone to see her true self.

**183\. Breakfast**

Ryuuichi whined slightly when Hibari nuzzled into the crook of his neck in a hard manner, hands slipping into his shirt. He turned more to his side and buried his face into the pillow, trying to sleep. He ignored Hibari, absentmindedly thinking that he would stop bothering him and let him sleep if he ignore him. Sadly, he was wrong.

Hibari bit his shoulder, eliciting a yelp. Ryuuichi pushed Hibari's face away and grumbled sleepily. "Stop it, I'm sleepy.." His eyes were still close as he tried to fall asleep again. "It's already ten, love. I'm hungry."

"Go to the kitchen then, boo.." He slurred, already back in dreamland when Hibari bit his collarbone, nipping down his shoulder. "Ugh I'm not food!"

Hibari smirked, sucking on a pressure point. "But you look so  _delicious_." True to Hibari's words, Ryuuichi looked absolutely ravishing, only wearing Hibari's white dress-shirt, loose and showing more skin than intended. Hibari leaned down and whispered huskily into the younger's ears, making Ryuuichi to shiver. " _Itadakimasu_."

**184\. Echoes**

The resonance of the call was silent, yet deafening and demanding. So  _demanding_. Tsuna sucked in a shaky breath and stumbled off the bed, hurried to his wardrobe to change. There was something wrong, and it was between all the Skies and Earth closest to him.

_DieDieDie-d_ **_iE-LIVE_ **

Something wrecked in him and made him cried out in the foreign twinge of pain. It was familiar. He felt this when Yuni, the one from the Future-Not-To-Be, sacrificed herself. Something really wrong was going on.

His phone rang and he immediately picked it up. It didn't take him more than a split second to know that it was a join call. "Tsuna, can you feel that?" It was Dino, who sounded breathless and was probably driving at high speed. "All of us felt that as well." The brunette almost nodded but he remembered that none of them could see him.

"Yeah. It's-" He rasped, only to end his sentence when emotions coursed through him again.  ** _Di--_** **l** _ **ivE!**_

"Shit- This.." There was a strain in Dino's voice, perhaps trying to control himself. "Who is it?" Enma asked, sounding really worried as well. "Byakuran, are you there?"

"Yeah, I am. Yuni's with me as well." There was no playfulness in his tone, too solemn and serious. "Where's Ryuuichi?" Tsuna asked, alarmed.

"He's not picking up." He scowled. Just as he was about to speak again, Gokudera with a murderous Hibari barged into his room. "Juudaime! Code red! The jet Ryuuichi and Yuuichi are on disappeared from radar just moments ago, and a SOS was sent not a second after!"

_**DIE!** _

**185\. Falling**

_Please please please please-_

Ryuuichi choked on a cry and bit down the whimper. He curled himself up and hid in the store room, door locked from the inside. He felt everything jumbled up inside him, every single thing set him off despite it being harmless, he couldn't. He  _couldn't_. It has been years since he last felt like this, and he never missed it.

He wished he never felt it again, but it seemed like it was impossible.

The day Ryuuichi found himself falling into a spiral of despair once again after almost  _two_  decades, was the day he lost all control of himself and set everything on fire, even himself.

_Help, help h_ **_eLP-_ **

_He's drowning._

**86\. Picking up the Pieces**

It took Hibari three days to find Ryuuichi. Three days, fifteen hours, forty minute and twelve seconds. He found him in a rundown factory, curling by a corner, looking absolutely lifeless. Except, he was alive and  _not alive_. It was concerning. It was damn  _scary_. Hibari had never seen him so broken before. Not after Amemori Hibiki's death. It has been three weeks since, where the wake was held during the time Ryuuichi was in coma.

He woke up with panic, which soon turned into hyperventilating. No one could calm him down and he was sedated immediately, with tears running down his cheek. When he woke up the second time, he was  _dead_. He wouldn't talk, wouldn't look at anyone, and almost would eat and drink.

And then he disappeared.

A search team between all of them was immediately formed, and yet, they couldn't find him anywhere. Until Hibari did anyway. Hibari knew Namimori like the back of his hand, so he knew which nook and cranny to look, where Ryuuichi would most likely to be.

He was right.

He knelt beside Ryuuichi and reached out to touch him, only to stop when a visible flinch was seen. He ignored the pain gnawing in him and retracted his hand. (Ryuuichi need him, it wasn't the time to care about his own welfare.) Instead, he sat down beside him in silence, close enough to let him know he was there, and far enough to not bother him.

And he waited for him to open up, waited for him to talk.

Soon enough, he heard an almost silent sob, he noticed how the other's body was shaking, how tightly he was clenching his forearm. Hibari slowly reached over and pulled him into his arms just as the waterwork broke.

**187\. Gunshot**

Reborn was born with a gunshot echoing in the midnight air, or that was what his  _mamma_  had said. She said  _papa_  was killed when she was giving birth to him, said  _papa_  slaughtered their enemy just before passing away after seeing him for the first and last time. She said, he was the reincarnation of his  _papa_ , resembling him from the tip of his toe to the very strains of his hair. He was named 'Reborn', in another language, because of that.

His dead name, which he had left behind years ago after his  _mamma_  fell into despair and hallucination, after his  _mamma_  turned into a mad woman. He had ended her miserable life for her, after much pleading, with the same gun his  _papa_  had last used.

He lived in the scum, learned to survive, learned to kill more and more, learned about many things he would never learn in school, not that he had attend school. Then he met his  _zio_. He wasn't exactly his  _zio_ , but Reborn regarded him as so. He gave him a roof to stay under, gave him food, gave him clothes and gave him freedom.

He thought him of English, Math, Science, History and almost everything. Reborn has photographic memory, he remembered and took in everything like a sponge. And then he brought him into the underworld, brought him to  _Cosa Nostra_. There, he met Timoteo, old but  _not_  that old. Not like his  _zio_.

His  _zio_  was a hitman, apparently. Reborn wasn't scared. Instead, he learned from him his skills, learned about everything of the mafia, and he was turned into a hitman.

A year after he became the World's Strongest Hitman, his  _zio_  passed away. Not murdered, not anything, but he had passed away peacefully in his sleep. Reborn gave him a proper burial and left the apartment they were staying. He left to Sicily instead, to  _Cosa Nostra_.

He soon became an infant again, and the ghost sound of the gunshot that forever marked in his mind grew louder.

**188\. Possession**

Ryuuichi yawned as he trotted to the toilet to wash up, hair disheveled and messy. He shivered a little upon stepping onto the cold tiles and sleepily reached for the toothbrush and toothpaste. Just as he was brushing his teeth, he gazed up the mirror and froze. He looked absolutely horrendous, for one, since he was somehow sleep deprived. But that wasn't the point.

From the nape of his neck to his shoulder, where the baggy and large sweater was slipping off, was littered with red spots. He touched it, wondering if he was attacked by some kind of bug when he was asleep, only to realize that it wasn't insect bites.

_Mine mine mine mine!_

He flushed red and quickly finished his business. He leaped back into his room and pulled on a turtleneck before promptly stomping downstairs to murder a certain skylark. (And, oh god, there was some even on his torso!)

(Hibari merely smirked as he took a stroll out in the town of Naples.)

**189\. Twilight**

Caelum was reading outside when it suddenly turned dark. He was pretty sure that it was only three in the afternoon, as what his pocket watch has shown. He turned away from his book and squinted at the sun, only to widen his eyes in surprise. There was something shading the sun.

He winced not a moment later because it was still very bright, the sun ray and immediately looked away, squeezing his eyes shut.

This happened almost every year, and every time, he didn't have the chance to see it. It was quite surprising that it just so happen he was outside.

It was amazing, lest to say. A bit anticlimactic, but still amazing. It's like the sun slowly died and regenerated itself. Somehow. Representing a new beginning for the sun. Caelum smiled as he watched the shadow on the ground grew and grew, until the whole place was dark. And then the light came back slowly.

Soon, it was bright again. He sighed and lean back against the tree trunk. He actually wanted to see the whole process straight on, but he couldn't do that without burning his eyes out, unfortunately. 'Oh well.'

"Caelum!" He glanced down the hill and saw someone waving at him. Recognizing who it was, he smiled and waved back. He stood up and trotted down carefully. At the back of his mind, he wondered if humans were like the sun as well, getting to die and reborn into a new person.

He soon got his answer.

**190\. Nowhere and Nothing**

They stood face to face as everything else dissolved into darkness. They were silent, unmoving. Caelum was staring at Ryuuichi, who had his eyes closed tightly. He stared, and stared. And he closed his eyes.

And Ryuuichi opened his. He opened his eyes to the darkness. He clenched a hand over his beating heart. And he disappeared.

**191\. Answers**

They were lying on their bed, sated from their,  _activities_  while sticking close to each other even though it was a bit uncomfortable as they were slightly sweaty and sticky. Ryuuichi was dozing off against Hibari's bare chest, listening to the heart beat as Hibari uncharacteristically stared off into space, running his fingers through the dark brown hair.

Ryuuichi snuggled closer and slurred sleepily. "What's wrong..?"

Hibari snapped out of his reverie and hummed. He planted a kiss on top of Ryuuichi's head and sighed through his nose. "Nothing." He smiled at the purr as Ryuuichi cracked his eyes open, almost reluctant. "You're lying."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm not."

"You ar-" Hibari flicked his forehead, eliciting a whine. "I'm not, small animal. Go to sleep." Ryuuichi stubbornly shook his head and shifted so that he was looking at the older without craning his neck too much. "You are, Kyou. Tell me." He almost raised an eyebrow when he hesitated.

"You do know that we've been together for almost fifteen years, right?" He nodded. "Of course." Hibari shifted his gaze to the side of the room for a moment before looking right into Ryuuichi's eyes. "I love you, Shiroki Ryuuichi." He pulled him closer and kissed him. "Will you give me your all?"

Ryuuichi stared with wide eyes, mind going haywire. He couldn't believe what he had heard. For the skylark to actually  _propose_ , of  _all_ things. It was a really big step for him, Ryuuichi knew it. Being tied down isn't something the skylark likes. The prospect of marriage in Hibari's dictionary would be equivalent to being chained down. Ryuuichi knew that, he understood that because he, at first, wasn't that fond of it as well. He accepted that side of Hibari.

And yet, Hibari was here, asking for his hand.

And he wasn't as well.

Ryuuichi blushed. He, however, couldn't help but smile in happiness. "I've long given you my everything, Kyouya." He leaned their forehead together and stared lovingly into those bluish-grey eyes. "Are you wiling to give me yours, Hibari Kyouya?"

Hibari returned a similar smile as he pulled him into another kiss, more passionate than before. "I've given it to you since the day I met you."

It wasn't much of a proposal, it wasn't a promise either. It was a silent oath between themselves and only themselves. To be with each other forever, to stay connected no matter what. To fully bind themselves together. There was no legal documents nor it was printed black and white, but the matching ring they both wear on their left ring finger was more than enough to prove it.

**192\. Innocence**

Mukuro lost his purity since the day he was exposed to the torture. The day he greeted hell headfirst. Bits and bits of innocence destroyed by the  _disgusting mafiosi_. He wished for revenge, he  _wanted revenge_. And he's going to get it. Hatred burned and burned in his heart, until he let it all out and promptly slaughtered the mafiosi.

It still wasn't enough.

He wanted to destroy the mafiosi, the  _whole of it_.

"Mukuro! Stop mopping there and come join us!" He turned to Tsuna, who was waving at him from the mat under the cherry blossom tree, smiling in such a trusting manner that made him recoil internally. He couldn't understand, why would he still accept him even after trying to kill him and his friends.

'Vongola Decimo is an enigma after all.'

He chuckled and sauntered over, a smirk on his face. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, what makes you think that I would join you and your merry little troop?"

The brunette tilted his head. "But you're here, aren't you?" He faltered for a split second and shook his head. "You're seriously strange, Tsunayoshi-kun." He smiled internally. Perhaps, it was alright for him to forget about the whole for a day.

**193\. Simplicity**

Hibari had his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. Passer-bys would sneak a second glance on him, blushing a little while those who know him immediately ran away, not wanting to risk getting themselves killed. He wondered what he was doing here, our in a crowd and actually  _tolerating_  it. He wanted to bite all of the herbivores to death, but he restrained himself and waited (im)patiently.

"Kyouya!" He looked to the right to see Ryuuichi jogging up to him with a back pack in tow. Light, it seemed, compared to the usual weight he would bring. Hibari pushed himself off the wall and stared at him. The younger was wearing a dark blue button-down shirt with a black jacket tied around his waist.

Ryuuichi grinned at his boyfriend only to blush when he noticed the intense stare. That, and Hibari was damn handsome in casual wear. "Sorry for the wait." Hibari merely shook his head. "Shall we go?" With a 'yes', they headed to the aquarium that just opened recently, walking side by side.

Their hands were inches away, bumping slightly. Ryuuichi was content with this, but he couldn't help but wanted to hold Hibari's hand. Perhaps Hibari noticed his dilemma, he immediately grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers together. Ryuuichi jerked at that and was surprised, almost letting go. Hibari wordlessly tighten his grip and cast him a glance, smirking.

Ryuuichi huffed but squeezed his hand back, pouting a little when he realized that Hibari was either mocking or teasing him. He was about to roll his eyes when he saw the aquarium. Finally.

They were inside almost instantly, passing the ticket booth without the guard stopping them. Hibari was probably the reason why. Typical of him. Ryuuichi had no complains though, he was like a five years old kid, jumpy and hyper as he cooed at each and every aquatic animals he saw along the way.

Then they came to the section where you can touch the aquatic animals. Ryuuichi hesitated, not sure of it until Hibari nudged him and gave him a nod. He reached into the cold water and poked a star fish. It didn't react, so he took it and pulled it out of the water, showing Hibari.

And he came face to face with a sea cucumber. He jumped back and gave the prefect the most betrayed look ever. Hibari couldn't help but laugh slightly. Ryuuichi's eyes soften and joined him in laughter. Seriously, it was such an amazing day with nothing to worry about. Slightly plain compared to their usual chaotic days, but it was really appreciated.

**194\. Reality**

It took Reborn a while to accept the fact that they had really broken the curse. That Tsuna had broken the curse for them. He couldn't really believe it, kept thinking that it was a dream. He even had a plastic pacifier on just in case it was really a dream so that he wouldn't be that much in shock.

It was until when his clothes were getting tighter than usual, his shoes smaller, that he realized that it wasn't a dream. It hit him in the face so hard that he couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous things were. His grin turned sharper, more insane as the thought of growing back to his actual size was damn pleasing.

He couldn't wait to actually tutor (Read: torture) Tsuna in his original size. (Going through puberty again wasn't that fun, however. It was a  _bitch_.)

**195\. Acceptance**

Alaude wondered what would happen if he didn't give Ryuuichi his acceptance. Would Caelum still be restlessly watching Ryuuichi? Would Caelum continue to hide himself from Alaude and the others even after  _four centuries_? He didn't know.

What Alaude did know was that Caelum finally let go, finally decided to let Ryuuichi take his place fully and join Alaude in afterlife along with others, if there was an afterlife in the first place because they had been lingering. Lingering for so many years until the right successor came. (Their afterlife, was in fact joining their reincarnations, merging with their souls and be a piece of it.)

Caelum smiled at him, smile at everyone for the fact that they had accepted his reincarnation. Grateful- and forgiving. A smile Alaude had seen so many times yet it was so foreign now, since their burden had been lifted. He couldn't help but find that smile of Caelum's the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

**196\. Lesson**

"Secondo, on the other hand, was an angry, cinnamon roll." Ryuuichi gave Reborn a look. "'Cinnamon roll'. Are you kidding me?" Tsuna, who was sitting beside him, was confused as well.

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Yes." They answered in unison, which they ended up receiving a slap from a slipper that popped out of nowhere. "Secondo was titled as that because while he was wrathful, he has this side of his as well, that made him really innocent, in a sense."

"Is it because he died a virgin?" Reborn gave Ryuuichi a withering look. "Secondo had a handful of unnamed women, so if he did died a virgin, I don't know what he did with them."

Ryuuichi scrunched his nose in concentration slightly. There was a small pause before he nodded. Reborn nodded as well and was about to continue on the history of Secondo's reign when Tsuna raised his hand.

"What if Secondo's gay?" Reborn palmed his face as Ryuuichi doubled over in laughter. Tsuna, however, was serious about it. Seriously, what was with this set of students Reborn has? Even Dino wasn't this much of a pain in the back. Oh, wait. He was. Damn it.

**197\. Frozen**

Ryuuichi shuddered, curling up into a ball as he tried to keep warm. Never in his life had he hated the cold, well, except when he was ill. It probably below thirty degrees here and he was dying. The winter coat and the thick sweater plus turtle neck wasn't helping much either.

His teeth was chattering, apparently, and the tip of his fingers had turned blue. He was probably going to get hypothermia if he were to  _stuck_ here any longer. Where was he again?

Ah, right. Russia, during winter for a mission from Vongola. He was chasing this traitor across a hill when he slipped and promptly got stuck under a pile of snow with a sprained ankle. At first it was alright since he was able to draw his flames to keep himself warm while trying to heal his ankle, when he realized that his leg was actually buried in the snow, couldn't get it out no matter how.

Bloody damn ice. At least it was able to aid on the sprain. Somehow.

And then he was getting sleepier and weaker, his flames spent from using too much. He was probably going to die.

A familiar presence and voice reminded him that he didn't come alone as some of the snow was dug off. "Oya, oya. I took my eyes off you for two hours and this is how you ended up?" He stared up at Mukuro, eyes half lidded as the energy to retort his words was just simply non-existing. He, however, noted that there was a slight panic in his voice. "Looks like you're about to die."

Knowing that he wouldn't actually die, now that Mukuro was here, he slipped into the darkness. Mukuro scowled and clicked his tongue. He quickly dug Ryuuichi out fully and carried him by supporting his back and the back of his knees. He was cold. Scalding cold. Second stage of hypothermia, reaching the last. He have to be quick.

With a sigh, he took of onto the road and immediately brought him to the hospital.

**198\. Game**

Fon smirked behind his sleeve as Reborn moved. At the sound of the piece clicking on the wooden block, Reborn immediately narrowed his eyes and cursed under his breath. Fon's eyes were crinkled at how hard he was smirking as he moved his piece with another hand.

" _Jiang_." Reborn huffed and tilted his fedora down slightly. Why did he think that it was a good idea playing  _Chinese Chess_  of  _all_  things with Fon for a deal? Why didn't he choose Cricket instead? Cricket's nice. And less headache-y.

"So what was the deal again?" Fon was definitely cunning under his kind demeanor. Definitely. Sly as well. (The pot calling the kettle black, Reborn.) The hitman sighed and squared his shoulders, looking directly into Fon's eyes and narrowed. "Fine, you get to train Tsuna for half a year."

"And..?"

"And I'll delete the picture of you red from the Mapo tofu from my data."

**199\. Endings**

Ryuuichi never liked endings. He never did, and probably never will. Whenever he was reaching the end of a story book, he would always tried to endlong it by putting it aside, reading slower than usual. He never wanted it to end. But alas, it did.

Endings are inevitable. Just like death. Ryuuichi knew that very well. Which was probably why  _she_  was so reluctant to hang out  _her_  friends. Well,  _was_ , anyway. (He couldn't even properly stay home now with them dragging him all over the place.) Happiness always seemed to disappear in a blink of an eye rather than its opposite.

But even so, it wasn't like ending would erase everything. It wasn't like ending would pull him and everyone else apart.

And it wasn't as though it was  _ending_. After all, it continues on and on for eternity.

**200\. Death**

Ryuuichi was scared of death. He was scared of the eternal darkness that comes after this short and fickle life. He was scared of being  _alone_. And that was, well,  _was_.

He didn't know how, nor when was it, that he wasn't even scared of it anymore. He didn't know when did he started to accept that the fact. Perhaps it was when he knew he would probably get reincarnated again, or when he was too used to putting his life on the line.

It just came to him one random day, when he was doing a report. It struck him out of nowhere, that he couldn't comprehend what he was writing anymore, that his pen stayed frozen, the tip on the paper.

Shiro's whine and Sora's nudge against his tight shook him out of his stupor as Kuro jumped onto his desk, managed to not knock down the cup of tea by the corner. He raised an eyebrow at them. "What's wrong with all of you?"

Kuro growled and leaned in. He bit Ryuuichi's loose tie and tugged it to the direction of the door. The other two were pushing him as well. "H-hey, what-"

Suddenly, Sora stiffen and growled lowly at the window, curtain drawn. It was then Ryuuichi noticed that something was wrong. It was a moment too late, when a bullet impaled itself onto Ryuuichi's back.

He blacked out, with his animal partner's howls and growls. He was dying, he realized. He never knew it was this peaceful, even though he was pretty sure that the pain was ripping him inside out. Scratch that. He knew it was peaceful, but he didn't realize it years ago, too scared of it.

Death must be thrilled to see him,  _again_... Nah. Death would have to wait.

He couldn't die now. He  _mustn't die now_.

A small flame lit inside, slowly growing and growing. It flared out from Ryuuichi's growing cold body, burning almost everything beside the panthers and wolf in the room. A loud gasp erupted from his lips as he jerked up slightly, eyes snapping open.

He burned the whole office down as Kuro hunted for the assassin.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY! This is the longest chapter I've ever written. 31K. It took me more than three months to finish this, ya know?
> 
> Eh, it's confusing, I know. Its a pile of jumbled up things, all of them at random age each and AUs everywhere. I can't remember everything, so please ask. There are repeats, I know, because I took two similar list and combined it. And, similarities because I lack of imagination.
> 
> It mostly surrounds Ryuuichi, Hibari, Tsuna and the Giudizio, I noticed. I didn't know what happened.
> 
> Since it's long, I didn't exactly proof read properly. Please, please inform me if there's any mistakes or weird sentences. Thanks!
> 
> Fun Fact= Amemori joined the Giudizio at age of 25.
> 
> I sadly announce that this will be the last chapter. I'm really happy with this story. Really really happy. It is and will always be one of my proudest work. In fact, this is my first work that I've ever finished. *sweats* 
> 
> I'll still write the character info tho.
> 
> Anyways, thank you for supporting this story and bear with me all this while! I'll be forever grateful XD (I've, like so many things to say but I felt that this thing might corrupt already lol)
> 
> [Questions from Wattpad]
> 
> -Did Hana really end up with Ryohei like they had in the future?= Of course! Ever since realizing that Hana and Ryohei are an item in the Future arc, I loved them so much I couldn't even stand it. Well, Hana took up law in Japan, but stayed there until Kyoko and Haru decided to move to Italy, which, conveniently, she had finished her masters. 
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes.]


	81. The End, and The Beginning

**Shiroki Ryuuichi**

- **General** -

\- Date of birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 06 October/ Male/ Namimori/ Japan  
\- Height/ Weight: 160cm/ 49.5kg

\- Age: 13 (Beginning)/ 14 (Present)/ 30 (Mentally)

\- Blood Type: Classified; Half Italian, quarter Japanese, quarter Chinese

\- Family: Shiroki Kei (Father)/ Shiroki Sakura (Mother)/ Shiroki Yuuichi (Younger Twin Brother)/Dino (Cousin)

\- Title(s): Historian/ Reborn's Apprentice

\- Status: Alive

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Vongola and Cavallone

\- Weapon(s): Semi-automatic Handgun (Primary)/ Bo Stick/ Bow and Arrow

\- Box Animal(s): Sora (Sky)/ Kuro (Cloud)/ Shiro (Sun)

\- Flame(s): Sky (Primary)/ Cloud (Secondary)/ Sun (Secondary)

\- Relationship: Taken; In a relationship

- **Appearance** -

\- Long, dark brown hair, always tied up. Dark brown eyes. Frequently seen in dark colored clothes and a back pack

- **Personality** -

\- A matured teen who remembers his past life. Doesn't like to talk about his problems; secretive. Is rather neutral with a lot of things, yet rather indecisive at times.  _Very_ protective of his brother. Is quite short-tempered but usually managed to cope it up and forgets about it. Cheeky. A bit too apathetic at time. Is edgy with people he didn't like or strangers. Can be very childish. Occasionally speaks in riddles. Sharp at most of the things except his own affair. Takes things in with a stride; Can easily move on.

- **Random** -

\- Has no shame over his jokes. Brain works twenty-four seven. Is good at Chess. Low body temperature, prefers cold weather. An occasional 'drunkard' when ill. Doesn't mind physical touches with his friends and family but gets flustered when it is Hibari. Rather hypocrite. Introduced basketball to his brother when they were younger. Is able to see through masks and lies yet says nothing most of the time. Is a natural with weapons except whips and boomerangs. Knows Judo and Aikido. Nicknamed as BakaRyuu. Knows how to play piano. Doesn't like computer games. Has a collection of English novels in his room. Secretly a bro-con.

\- An interesting fact: He has a  _lot_  of moles all around his body. There's one on the wrist of his left hand, two on the back of his neck and one on his right ankle.

\- Language(s): Japanese, English, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, French, German(?)

\- Likes: His friends and family, Hibari, Winter and Autumn, daylight, soft and fluffy things, music, his comfort zone

\- Dislikes: Being accused (But ignores it), his brother being accused, stuck-ups and arrogant people, lying to his brother, homework in general, group projects (Unless with his brother), cheese and milky food, bugs in general

\- Hates: Horror movies, seeing anyone he loves injured or hurt, cockroaches, talking about his problems

\- Bad habit: Biting his inner cheeks, bottle things up, disregards of himself, looking down at himself

\- Bat At: Arts (Drawing and coloring), cooking or baking, swimming

\- Weak Spot(s): His stomach, back, thighs and sides

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Shiroki Yuuichi**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 07 October/ Male/ Namimori/ Japan

\- Height/ Weight: 160cm/ 50kg

\- Age: 13 (Beginning)/ 14 (Present)

\- Blood Type: Classified; Half Italian, quarter Japanese, quarter Chinese

\- Family: Shiroki Kei (Father)/ Shiroki Sakura (Mother)/ Shiroki Ryuuichi (Older Twin Brother)/ Dino (Cousin)

\- Title(s): None

\- Status: Alive

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Cavallone (By default)

\- Weapon(s): None (Owns a Scythe)

\- Box Animal(s): None

\- Flame(s): Rain (Primary)/ Mist (Secondary)

\- Relationship: Single

- **Appearance** -

\- Has short dark brown hair. Dark brown eyes. Has lean and slightly muscular built. A little tan from all the street basket.

- **Personality** -

\- A teenager ( _slightly_ less matured than his brother). Decisive. Is  _rather_  sharp at  _everything_. Quite a charmer. Has rather low bullshit tolerance. More emotional than his brother. Has  _quite_  a temper. Protective of his brother. Playful; knows how to deal with his parents to get somethings.

- **Random** -

\- Is fifty percent done with his brother's jokes. Bad at mind games. Basketball junkie. Excel in Judo, Aikido and Taekwondo. Great at computer games, loves them. Used to be quite clumsy. Knows how to skate (Roller blades/ Inline skates, Roller skates, Skate board/ Wave board, Ice skates, etc.etc.). Street basket at its best. Pretty good at drawing and coloring. Doesn't understand chess. Has no patience over Rubiks Cube. Is exasperated at his brother's dense mind. Gets along with anyone easily, unless he dislike that person. Social butterfly.

\- He actually has a small birth mark the diameter of 5mm on his shoulder right above where his heart was.

\- He may or may not had injured himself before and needed surgery when he was five, much to Ryuuichi's dismay. (This may or may not be the reason that Ryuuichi turned into a bro-con, even if he would never admit.)

\- Language(s): Japanese, English (Not fluent), a little Italian and a little French

\- Likes: His friends and family, basketball, Summer, horror and gore movies, games, crepes, night, sports in general, beach.

\- Dislikes: His brother lying to him, stuck-up and arrogant people, History, homework in general, his brother hiding things from him, anyone insult basketball

\- Hates: Seeing anyone he loves injured or hurt, bitter food, sticky stuffs

\- Bad Habit: Doesn't know how to stop overworking himself during practices, reckless when anxious (Minus during basketball and games)

\- Bad At: Baking, dancing, tone deaf

\- Weak spot(s): His sides, feet and ears

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Shiroki Kei**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 18 May/ Male/ Naples (Italy)/ Japan

\- Height/ Weight: 185cm/ 73.4kg

\- Age: 38 (Beginning)/ 39 (Present)

\- Blood Type: Classified; Half Italian, half Chinese

\- Family: Shiroki Sakura (Wife)/ Shiroki Ryuuichi (Eldest Son)/ Shiroki Yuuichi (Youngest Son)/ Dino (Nephew)

\- Title(s): Cavallone's Devil Killer

\- Status: Alive

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Cavallone

\- Weapon(s): Rifle guns/ daggers

\- Box Animal(s): None

\- Flame(s): Rain

\- Relationship: Married

- **Appearance** -

\- Short, black hair. Dark teal eyes. Looks like a typical Asian. Sturdy but lean built.

- **Personality** -

\- Calming; patience. Can be cold and murderous when provoked. Kind, most of the time. Occasionally likes to tease his sons. Caring and loving

- **Random** -

\- Cavallone's assassins, in charge of the security. A pacifist most of the time. Loves his family too much. Too devoted to his wife. Surprisingly good at ballroom dance and tango. Owns a DSLR camera. A sucker for his family. Is actually a good friend of Hibari Mamoru, can't stand Yue, however.

\- Met his wife when he was 15, started dating at 18, married at 24. Born into a family of assassins working for the Cavallone, turned orphan when he was 12, moved to Japan when he was 13 with his aunt. Changed his name to Shiroki Kei when he moved to Japan. On MIA during the period he was in Japan, went to front line when he graduated and moved back to Italy with Sakura after his aunt's death. Permanently moved to Japan after married to Sakura and had two kids, went back to front line 9 years after their birth. Has some kind of involvement with the Triad. His mother was a Chinese who moved to Italy and married his Italian father, both died along with his younger sister during an accident.

\- Likes: His loved ones, black tea, his wife, his wife's cooking, watching his sons grow up, taking pictures, travelling at one point, peaceful lifestyle.

\- Dislikes: Rumors, fighting unless necessary

\- Hates: Seeing his loved ones injured or hurt, seeing his wife sad, anyone attempt to hurt his family, green peas, recollecting his past.

\- Bad Habits: None

\- Bad At: Horrendous at singing

\- Weak Spot(s): His ears

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Shiroki-Natsume Sakura**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 30 June/ Female/ Namimori/ Japan

\- Height/ Weight: 164cm/ Classified

\- Age: 37 (Beginning), 38 (Present)Blood Type: Classified; Half Italian, Half Japanese

\- Family: Shiroki Kei (Husband)/ Shiroki Ryuuichi (Eldest Son)/ Shiroki Yuuichi (Youngest Son)/ Dino (Nephew)

\- Title(s): Cavallone's Hacker

\- Status: Alive

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Cavallone

\- Weapon(s): Semi-automatic Handgun, long sword

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Cloud

\- Relationship: Married

- **Appearance** -

\- Long, golden hair. Black eyes. Looks like a typical Asian

- **Personality** -

\- Cheery. Can be really scary when provoked. Surprisingly composed during emergencies. Has a tendency to threaten males of castration (other than her husband and sons) when provoked. A tigress, in a sense.

- **Random** -

\- Cavallone's hacker; in charge of cyber security. Loves her family a lot. Smiles when provoked(?). Great at ballet and surprisingly, samba. Steps on people's feet during slow paced dances, a lot of times. Quite energetic. Woman's instinct at its highest (maybe even more). Can be quite jealous. Weak to her husband's parfait. Is actually a genius. Hibari Yue's best friend.

\- Met her husband when she was 12, started dating at 17, married at 23. Her late father owns a Kendo Dojo, started learning kendo at mere age of 5, took up ballet at 6, learnt hacking at 9, almost joined the yakuza until her husband happened. Accepted the fact that her husband is a mafioso and joined without hesitation. Followed her husband to Italy a year before she graduated, two after her father's death, joined Cavallone and worked for them after accepted by Cavallone Nono. Managed to charm Cavallone Nono somehow, much to Kei's displease. Permanently moved to Namimori when she married to her husband and gave birth to her two sons, resumed working for Cavallone 9 years after their birth. Is the only child. Her father was a Japanese while her mother was an Italian. (She passed away when she gave birth to Sakura.) Her father died of lungs cancer.

\- Likes: Her loved ones, her husband, flowers, coffee, watching her sons grow up, messing with her husband, her husband's parfait.

\- Dislikes: Anyone supposedly targeting her husband, anyone touching her laptop without her permission, people disturbing her during her work

\- Hates: sexist (A punch in the face), mud, seeing her love ones injured or hurt, bitter stuff

\- Bad habits: Biting her nails when anxious

\- Bad At: Ballroom Dancing

\- Weak Spot(s): Surprisingly, none

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Amemori Hibiki**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 27 January/ Male/ Kyoto/ Japan

\- Height/ Weight: 163cm/ 52kg

\- Age: 14 (Present)/ 30 (Mentally)

\- Blood Type: B; Pure Blood Japanese

\- Family: Amemori Eiji (Father)/ Amemori Miki (Mother)/ Amemori Hajime (Older Brother)/ Amemori Hisako (Older Sister)/ Amemori Yuya (Younger Brother)/ Amemori Rei (Younger Brother)

\- Title(s): None

\- Status: Alive

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): None

\- Weapon(s): None

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Rain

\- Relationship: Single

- **Appearance** -

\- Short, dark blue hair. Dark blue eyes. Stands a little too straight for comfort, sharp shoulders.

- **Personality** -

-A bit reckless. Can be very silent. Likes to stare at people; Observe/ creeps people out. Aggressive at times

- **Random** -

\- Knows street fighting; Participated in a few in Kyoto. An errand boy for his father when his father was working as an information broker for the Yakuza and a few mafioso. Closet pervert. Doesn't remember of his past life until he met Ryuuichi for the second time. In love with Ryuuichi even before reincarnation. Has an uncanny sense of reading Ryuuichi.  _Was_ Ryuuichi's childhood friend. Moved to Namimori alone during his second year of Middle School, currently living in a small apartment. Has a brown kitten name Jupiter. Eyes tend to flash in red when he's serious or angry. Actually a jack of all trades except when it comes to studies. Good at Chess. Working part-time at a cafe as a waiter. Good with kids. Doesn't really get along with Hibari. Can beat box. Knows a lot of random stuff. Is actually a huge dork.

\- Likes: Summer, his family and friends, ice cream, catching crickets, swimming, cats, horror movies, sit-com, Ryuuichi's past self

\- Dislikes: Fishing, people overwhelming him, gore, being sick, Opera

\- Hates: School in general, Maths, spicy and bitter food, Homework, hurting those he love

\- Bad Habits: Staying up late and become a train-wreck, figuratively

\- Bad At: None, surprisingly

\- Weak Spot(s): None

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

**Hibari Mamoru**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 31 December/ Male/ Tokyo/ Japan

\- Height/ Weight: 183cm/ 75kg

\- Age: 39

\- Blood Type: O; Pure Blood Japanese

\- Family: Hibari Yue (Wife)/ Fon (Brother-In-Law)/ Hibari Kyouya (Son)

\- Title(s): Wakagashira (1st Lieutenant)

\- Status: Alive

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Tsuki-komi (Hibari Clan, Main branch)

\- Weapon(s): Semi-automatic Handguns, Katana, Tonfa

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Cloud

\- Relationship: Married

- **Appearance** -

\- Short, light brown hair. Narrowed, bluish grey eyes.

- **Personality** -

\- Aloof. Observant. Sharp. Doesn't talk too much, but better than Kyouya. (His son got his personalities.) Calm and less violent.

- **Random** -

\- The second-in-line for the Kumicho (boss) position of Tsuki-komi (yakuza), but favored. The direct line of the Hibari Clan's main branch. A huge possibility to be the next boss. He's less violent than his son and tolerates people more. Was the one who taught Kyouya how to use a tonfa and how to fight. Taught him the importance of discipline. May or may not be the one who caused Kyouya's obsession with animal kingdom's terms. A good friend of Shiroki Kei and Sakura.

\- Met Yue at 11, started dating at 19, married her at 26. Born into the yakuza and was brought up by his grandfather, who was the Kumicho at that time. His grandfather taught him of the  _everything_. Developed a complex with the yakuza after his grandfather passed and his father became the Kumicho. Transferred to Namimori and lived in an apartment with the Onee-san of the yakuza. Settled down in Namimori after married to Yue. He and Yue frequent to Tokyo for yakuza business after he got the position of Wakagashira. Found out that his son was dating Kei's son during New Year's Eve. Have nothing against it, supported them, even.

\- Likes: His family, Yue, peace and quite, nature itself, tea in general (especially Chinese tea), daylight.

\- Dislikes: His son hiding things.

\- Hates: Green Pepper, noises, looked down upon, people underestimating him and his family, being ordered around.

\- Bad Habits: None

\- Bad At: None

\- Weak Spot(s): Classified

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Hibari Yue**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 1 January/ Female/ Canton/ China

\- Height/ Weight: 163cm/ Classified

\- Age: 39

\- Blood Type: AB; Pure Blood Chinese

\- Family: Hibari Mamoru (Husband)/ Fon (Older Brother)/ Hibari Kyouya (Son)

\- Title(s): Fuku-honbucho (Assistant Chief)

\- Status: Alive

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Triad (Former)/ Tsuki-komi (Present)

\- Weapon(s): Short daggers

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Mist

\- Relationship: Married

- **Appearance** -

\- Long, black hair. Black eyes. Hair style is roughly similar to Fon and Kyouya's.

- **Personality** -

\- A typical 'Mist' personality. Sharp tongued. Is opposite of her brother in terms of subtlety.

- **Random** -

\- The assistant chief under Wakagashira. People sneered at her behind her back because she was the wife of Wakagashira but her capability overwrote that. Is rather deadly. Those who are loyal to her knows her kindness and how strict she  _actually_  was. Those who mocked her are usually taught an unforgettable lesson (personally by Mamoru) that changed their minds. Best friend with Sakura but has grudges against Kei.

\- Was born into the Triad along with Fon, her older brother by 11 years. Hated the Triad for inflicting such pain and burden on her brother, who was actively protecting her from the Head of the Triad. When Fon finally broken himself out of the Triad by incapacitating and killing almost half of the members of the main branch, she was free as well at the age of 9. Fon brought her to Japan at the age of 11 and left her in the care of the Hibari Clan. Met Mamoru then. Actually hated him at first because of his aloof and harsh demeanor but gradually liked him. Fell for him at some point, started dating him at 19 and married to him at 26. Fon never expected her to join the Yakuza. He intended for the Hibari Clan, who owe him a huge favor to protect her and give her a home, not  _join_  the Yakuza of all things after leaving the Triad. Actually resented Mamoru for a while but accepted in the end. Started off as a small member, but gradually climbed up the ranks because of her ferocity and capabilities. She would be nobody if she weren't the younger sister of the World's Strongest Martial Artist.

\- Likes: Her family, Mamoru and Kyouya, Fon, music, Fon's tea, Mamoru's smiles, Mandarin Oranges, traditions and cultures, the sky.

\- Dislikes: Sour plums.

\- Hates: Sour Plums, the Triad, not knowing things; her husband and son hiding things from her (Even if they didn't actually meant it), radish.

\- Bad Habits: None

\- Bad At: Controlling her sharp tongue.

\- Weak Spot(s): None

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Ryuuichi's Past Self/ Unnamed**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 06 October/ Female/ ??/ ??

\- Height/ Weight: 165cm/ Classified

\- Age: 16 

\- Blood Type: Classified

\- Family: Father/ Mother/ Older Sister

\- Title(s): None

\- Status: Decease/ Never existed

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): None

\- Weapon(s): None

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): None

\- Relationship: ??

- **Appearance** -

\- Long black hair; tied up most of the time. Brown eyes. Asian much. A rather wide shoulder. Too pale for comfort.

- **Personality** -

\- Kind heart. Stern at times. Calm. Mature. A little too emo. Flight or Fight, leaning towards Flight and lecture. Ambivert.

- **Random** -

\- Is Alex's childhood friend. Took piano lessons. Bad at physical activities. A bit avoidant and tends to be out of it; daydreaming. Once had a crush on Alex. A little bit bipolar with hints of depression. Has above average grades. Very indecisive. On her laptop most of the time, loves anime and manga and fanfics. Secretly a fujoshi (Alex knew). Occasionally hates herself, and the fact that she's a girl. Very insecure. Is dense about her own affair; Has quite a few suitors but didn't even know. Friendly but uncomfortable with strangers. Once a crybaby. Hypocrite.

\- Likes: Peace, literature, daydreaming, anime and manga, doing nothing in peculiar, being free without nothing to do.

\- Dislikes: Verbal or Physical fights, people overwhelming her, being forced to do things, ordered around, people deciding things for her, school in general.

\- Hates: Cockroaches, sexist, horror movie, being compared, having many things to do with deadlines

\- Bad Habits: Staying silent about her problems, tends to run away from problems

\- Bad At: Swimming, Physical activities

\- Weak Spots: Her thighs and sides

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**Alex**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: 26 January/ Male/ ??/ ??

\- Height/ Weight: 178cm/ 60kg

\- Age: 16

\- Blood Type: Classified

\- Family: ??

\- Title(s): None

\- Status: Decease/ Never existed

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): None

\- Weapon(s): None

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): None

\- Relationship: ??

- **Appearance** -

\- ??

- **Personality** -

\- Short tempered as heck. Hyper, somehow. Is slightly emo as well.

- **Random** -

\- Is Ryuuichi's past self's childhood friend. Passing grades. Physical activities at its best. Interested in electronic stuffs. Works part time at a car repair shop. Is in love with Ryuuichi's past self. A closet pervert. A sucker for Ryuuichi's past self. Really. Actually once hated Ryuuichi's past self, but ended up falling head over heels. Joins Ryuuichi's past self in watching anime and manga. Doesn't get the world of fujoshi. Good at Chess. Competitive. Too competitive. Protective. Cat lover. Can actually sense the invisible beings that doesn't breathes (AKA ghost). Knows Ryuuichi's past self since he was practically born; their parents are best friends.

\- Likes: Ryuuichi's past self, adventure, horror, cats, being with Ryuuichi's past self, Physical education, story books.

\- Dislikes: Annoying people, bossy people, illogical people, any other humans other than his close friends

\- Hates: Pest, Ryuuichi's past self's suitors, school, homework

\- Bad Habits: Losing his temper over small matters unless it's Ryuuichi's past self

\- Bad At: Education in general, studying

\- Weak Spots: None

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**Caelum**

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Country: ??/ Male/ ?? (France)/ ??

\- Height/ Weight: 180cm/ ??

\- Age: ??

\- Blood Type: ??

\- Family: ??

\- Title(s): The First Historian

\- Status: Decease/ Reincarnated

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Vongola

\- Weapon(s): Gun

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Sky (Primary)/ ??

\- Relationship: ??

- **Appearance** -

\- Ginger. Sharp, striking metallic blue eyes. Looks like Ryuuichi with short hair, not Yuuichi

- **Personality** -

\- Stubborn as heck. Apathetic as heck. Has a weird sense of humor. Generally friendly towards friends, cold towards foes

- **Random** -

\- Likes: ??

\- Dislikes: ??

\- Hates: ??

\- Bad Habits: ??

\- Bad At: ??

\- Weak Spots: ??

\- Tends to stare into space. Was usually silent. Has a weird sense of humor that no one seems to understand and was sarcastic, but controlled. Allied with Giotto and those who followed his will, and Cozart. Allied with Vindice purely through what they do.

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**TYL! Ryuuichi**

- **General** -

\- Current Place: Sicily, Italy

\- Height/ Weight: 184cm/ 60kg

\- Age: 24 (Physically)/ 40 (Mentally)

\- Title(s): Historian/ Vongola and Cavallone's Middle Man/ Reborn's Ex-Apprentice/ Head

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Vongola/ Cavallone/ Giudizio

\- Status: Alive

\- Relationship: Taken; In a relationship

- **Appearance** -

\- Longer hair than his younger self, tied up. Eyes narrowed, more refined face (Baby fats all gone). Lean but firm built

- **Personality** -

\- Never change much. More open. Sadistic (Thanks to Reborn). A bit wayward. Too sharp. Bolder

- **Random** -

\- Is the Head/ President of Giudizio. Totally in  ** _love_**  with Kyouya. Sadistic (Needed to be mentioned twice). Gathers the rest of the Giudizio from around the world; Didn't force any of them to join. In platonic relationship with Reborn, occasionally flirt around with the hitman and vice versa. (They became too chummy for Hibari's liking.) Has a scar on his right shoulder. Travels a  _lot_  other than working by the desk and researches. Was adamant that Yuuichi shouldn't join, but guess who won? Forced his parents to retire early; succeeded. Occasionally joins Reborn on his mission; Bianchi lost to him, in a sense. Tends to disappear without a word for a day or two when too stressed. Gives little to no damn to people who underestimated him and his Organization/ family. Not so lowkey ships Reborn and Fon. Is in charge of Eliot for Cloud, Yura and Gilbert for Sun. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**TYL! Yuuichi**

\- Current Place: Sicily, Italy

\- Height/ Weight: 185cm/ 62kg

\- Age: 24

\- Title(s): Vice

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Cavallone/ Giudizio

\- Status: Alive

\- Weapon(s): Rifle guns

\- Relationship: Complicated

- **Appearance** -

\- Leaner built. Hair slightly longer than younger self, but still short. Eyes narrowed; more refined face

- **Personality** -

\- Matured. Exasperated. Worrywart. Never really change much. Blunt

- **Random** -

\- Is the Vice President of Giudizio. Is exasperated at Ryuuichi's ability to pick up strays-turned-family. (He wasn't complaining, however.) Immune to Ryuuichi's sadism. Learnt hacking from his mother; Giudizio's hacker. Still loves basketball. Wanted to join Giudizio, joined Giudizio did he. Is done with Ryuuichi's relationships with Hibari, Reborn and occasionally, Dino. Still loves his brother very much, despite the sadism. Has been into relationships with a few people before, but broke up. Might or might not be interested in Yura romantically(?). Declared himself as a Bisexual and Asexual. Ryuuichi loves him too much as how he loves Ryuuichi just as much. Rarely goes on missions other than researches and field works that doesn't involves fighting. Is in charge of Ivy and Gilbert for Mist. [A year after, finally got back together with Amemori.]

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Xena**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Current Place (Country): 03 December/ Female/ Dublin (Ireland)/ Sicily (Italy)

\- Height/ Weight: 164cm/ Classified

\- Age: 24*

\- Blood Type: Classified; Pure Blood Irish

\- Family: Orphan

\- Title(s): ??

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Disbanded Family (Former)/ Giudizio (Current)

\- Weapons(s): Crossbow

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Storm

\- Relationship: ??

- **Appearance** -

\- Shoulder length blonde hair. Blue eyes.

- **Personality** -

\- A bit eccentric. Cheery most of the time. Can be quite a sadist. Happy-go-lucky

- **Random** -

\- Likes: Everything

\- Dislikes: Everything

\- Hates: People underestimating her and her family, her pride being mocked

\- Bad Habits: None

\- Bad At: None

\- Weak Spot: None

\- Parents died because of an accident when she was one, took in by a member of a small Famiglia. The members of the Famiglia adores her. The Famiglia disbanded when she was 15 because of unknown reasons. She remained as a solo freelance assassins. Met Ryuuichi (21 at that time) at a ball when she was 21. Timoteo told Ryuuichi about her before. They chatted when an immediately mission came in. Ryuuichi was interested, asked her to join him for the mission. She accepted and was thoroughly amazed at Ryuuichi; she wanted to join the Giudizio and Ryuuichi took her in. Is the first member of the Giudizio that Ryuuichi took in/ invited. Gets along well with mostly everyone of the member, the most is Yura and Ivy after they joined. Tends to play pranks on everyone with Yura (She influenced him).

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**Liu Xie**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Current Place (Country): 10 March/ Male/ Gansu (China)/ Sicily (Italy)

\- Height/ Weight: 180cm/ 59kg

\- Age: 26*

\- Blood Type: Classified; Pure Blood Chinese

\- Family: Father, ??

\- Title(s): ??

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Triad (Former)/ Giudizio (Current)

\- Weapon(s): None

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Lightning (Primary)/ Cloud (Secondary)

\- Relationship: Single

- **Appearance** -

\- Short, dark black hair, messy. Black eyes. Has a large tattoo of a Phoenix on his left side of his back, one wing spread onto his left forearm

- **Personality** -

\- Nonchalant at times. A bit emo. Kind to those he open up to. Caring

- **Random** -

\- Likes: The members of Giudizio, peace, freedom, training

\- Dislikes: Fighting unless necessary, any of the members fighting or arguing

\- Hates: The Triad, being caged down

\- Bad Habits: None

\- Bad At: Chinese Literature

\- Weak Spot: His neck

\- Is born into the Triad and is the heir to the leader. Is trained and taught to be the next leader, education of a university standard, forced to fight everyday. Got his tattoo at the age of 12, all the kids were scared of him; friendless because of his background. Most of the members of the Triad hates him because of his thoughts; he didn't like fighting, he didn't like all the chaos caused by the Triad, he hated the fact that everyone was scared of him; he hated the Triad to his dying breath. Had thought of killing himself to be free from the Triad because, 'Once a Triad member, only death can provide freedom from it'. 

\- Met Ryuuichi (22 at that time), who was visiting Fon with Hibari  _and_  on a mission, when he was 24, became his guide for the day after Ryuuichi brought him to the doctor and treated him a meal. (He was sparring with a senior and was severely injured.) He was surprised that Ryuuichi wasn't the least bit scared of him when his tattoo was so obvious. Followed Ryuuichi on his mission. Ryuuichi took an interest in him and gave him a choice to follow him or he'll help him to break of from the Triad; mafia things were told. He chose to follow Ryuuichi, but was troubled by the fact that the Triad wouldn't let him go easily, let alone the heir. Very shocked when he met Fon, who was an ex-member of the Triad (He admire Fon because Fon was the only one who managed to get out of the Triad with little to no trouble). Personally fought with his way out, with Ryuuichi helping _slightly_. Is the second member of Giudizio that Ryuuichi took in/ invited. Is in charged of Eliot after he joined.

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**Gilbert**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Current Place (Country): 27 November/ Male/ Nottingham (England)/ Sicily (Italy)

\- Height/ Weight: 189cm/ 64kg

\- Age: 30*

\- Blood Type: Classified; British, half Scottish

\- Family: ??

\- Title(s): None

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Giudizio

\- Weapon(s): Brass knuckle

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Sun (Primary)/ Mist (Secondary)

\- Relationship: Married

- **Appearance** -

\- Messy, ginger hair. Brown eyes. Large, muscular built. Has stubble.

- **Personality** -

\- Depressing, very. Has trust issue. Is getting better and happier. Rather awkward

- **Random** -

\- Likes: His family, the Giudizio, coffee, solitary

\- Dislikes: Himself

\- Hates: People threatening those he love,  _Rave Cristhe_ , funeral; Death in general

\- Bad Habits: Self-loathing

\- Bad At: Moving on

\- Weak Spot: None

\- Was married to his late wife, have three children; one girl two boys. Love them very much. Actually trusted Rave Cristhe, who was a colleague, his mistake. Rave killed his family in front of him one night, in his form, and manipulated him to be his scapegoat when Rave committed homicide on the Pio Famiglia. Vindice caught him but released him to Giudizio because there was not enough evidence. He admitted that he killed the Pio's Don when the evidence came, Vindice caught him again. Ryuuichi pulled him out and proved his innocent. Officially and permanently joined Giudizio at his own will, at 30 (Ryuuichi was 23 at that time).

\- Is in charge of Yura for Sun and Ivy for Mist. Can do literally  _anything_. A house-husband at some point. Can tie a cheery stalk with his tongue. His stubble are annoying, actually. Stubborn. Actually very innocent, somehow. Is exasperated with Xena and her constant pranks. Is the third person who joined Giudizio willingly. Is under Ryuuichi's guidance for a while.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Yura**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Current Place (Country): 09 January/ Male (Biologically female)/ Moscow (Russia)/ Sicily (Italy)

\- Height/ Weight: 170cm/ 54kg

\- Age: 19*

\- Blood Type: Classified; Pure Blood Russian

\- Family: Father, Mother, older Brother

\- Title(s): ??

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Giudizio

\- Weapon(s): Dagger

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Sun

\- Relationship: Single

- **Appearance** -

\- Short, dark grey hair. Grey eyes. Rather small.

- **Personality** -

\- Shy at first, playful soon after. Hardworking. Sharp, somehow.

- **Random** -

\- Likes: The members of Giudizio, being himself, being free, night, parkour, physical activities

\- Dislikes: Bitter stuff, carbonated drinks, carcasses

\- Hates: Being tied down, being compared, being restricted, forced to be someone he isn't

\- Bad Habits: Running away from problems, literally

\- Bad At: Naming something

\- Weak Spot: His shoulders

\- Is born into a noble family, the youngest. Born a girl. Is taught to be a lady. Soon realized he didn't wanted to be a 'she'. Came out as transgender to his family, was immediately shunned. His brother soon saw him as a threat to the noble position, tried to get rid of him. He was sold to Japanese Yakuza and was kidnapped to Japan. Managed to escape and got help from Ryuuichi (23 at that time) and Hibari. Ryuuichi gave him a temporary accommodation at his house. He knew a lot about the underground world because his family wasn't exactly  _clean_. Joined Giudizio willingly and broke ties with his family. Is the fourth who joined Giudizio. He came out again to the Giudizio and was accepted unconditionally. Xena corrupted him with pranks. Is under Ryuuichi and Gilbert's guidance once his type of Flame was known.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Eliot**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Current Place (Country): 18 February/ Male/ ??/ France

\- Height/ Weight: 133cm/ 30.8kg

\- Age: 10*

\- Blood Type: ??

\- Family: Orphan

\- Title(s): None

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Giudizio

\- Weapon(s): None

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Cloud

- **Appearance** -

\- Shoulder length, teal hair. Green eyes. Very tiny and scrawny.

- **Personality** -

\- Timid and shy. Very quiet.

- **Random** -

\- Likes: Solitary, the members of Giudizio, Ryuuichi, Apple juice, Yuuichi's food, peace, Sora, Hibari(?)

\- Dislikes: Fights; Physical and verbal.

\- Hates: Dark places, cramp spaces, the aspect of the others being angry, Doing something wrong, carrots

\- Bad Habits: Not reaching out to those he cares and cares about him when in trouble, thinking that everything is his fault

\- Bad At: None

\- Weak Spot: His ears and sides.

\- Is a orphan since birth; his father passed away before he was born, his mother died because of complication during giving birth. Lived in a old, run down orphanage until he was four, sold to the Minu Gang as slaves along with other orphans. Tortured by the boss, but is the favourite because he doesn't complain or make much noise. He was punished and locked in this space because he did something wrong for a three nights without any heat or food, and only a small canteen of water. Got hypothermia and almost died until Sora and Ryuuichi found him. Joined Giudizio because he wanted to follow Ryuuichi; Isn't going to be exposed to the Mafia world until Ryuuichi deemed he's ready. Loves Sora very much. Has a tendency to hide when he panicked. Took Ryuuichi (and later on, Hibari) as a father figure; didn't tell him, however. Doesn't like noises and loud sounds, but soon got used to it. Has slight claustrophobia. Is under Ryuuichi's guidance after his type of Flame was known.

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**Ivy**

- **General** -

\- Date of Birth/ Gender/ Place of Birth/ Current Place (Country): 29 July/ Female/ Florence (Italy)/ Sicily (Italy)

\- Height/ Weight: 161cm/ Classified

\- Age: 21*

\- Blood Type: AB; Full Blood Italian

\- Family: Father

\- Title(s): None

\- Famiglia(s)/ Organization(s): Minu Gang (Former)/ Giudizio (Current)

\- Weapon(s): Long sword

\- Box Weapon(s): None

\- Flame(s): Mist

- **Appearance** -

\- Long and messy blonde hair. Dark orange/red eyes. Looks fragile, is fragile (Until later on).

- **Personality** -

\- Silent. Very,  _very_ silent. Very similar to Chrome, until much later on. Protective. Once her mask slips, you'll get a rather cheerful girl.

- **Random** -

\- Likes: Hamsters, day, Autumn, pizza, freedom, the member of Giudizio, able to do what she wants.

\- Dislikes: Her father, prideful people.

\- Hates: Her father, arseholes, being taken lightly and underestimated, judged, being called a whore, seeing everyone she cares being hurt, seeing innocent people being hurt, the Minu.

\- Bad Habits: Staying silent when in trouble

\- Bad At: Calligraphy

\- Weak Spot: Her head

\- She was the only child, her mother passed away in a car accident when she was 5. Her father raised her up with the other gang members. When she was 16, her father told her to sold her body and did a lot of dirty jobs for him. She wasn't aware of the human trafficking business, thinking that he only owns the prostitute syndicate. Wasn't aware of the child slavery as well. She was ordered by her father to seduce one of the Vongola high-ranked people during a crisis when she was 21. He wanted to use her to get Vongola as an ally. She, by some luck, managed to sneak into the mansion when the security system was down, and had went into Hibari's quarter, naked. She was knocked unconscious and locked up before she was able to do anything. Met Ryuuichi about ten days after. Joined Giudizio after talking to him. Was guilty when she knew the truth and couldn't help but feel obligated to repay her father's sin to Eliot. ( _ **Was**_. No longer felt like that.) She's really thankful of Ryuuichi for accepting her, even after trying to bed Hibari (Not like she wanted to). Likes and scared of Xena at the same time.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Their age are set in the TYL time, where Tsuna and majority of the others are 24 years old.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\- Amemori joined the Giudizio at the age of 25, after many,  ** _many_**  arguments. His primary flames is Rain, surprisingly. Can actually bring out Storm flames, but rarely and only a tiniest bit. Uses a dual blade knife and occasionally, butterfly knife.

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\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eh, this story started off as, well, not as a joke of course, but as something that I thought I wouldn't finish. Like all my other stories *sweats*. But look! I managed to finish it! Yay! Well, it was originally something I imagined out of nowhere, I don't know how, it just popped out. Of course, there'll be difference here and there with my original plan, which there was a  _lot_. Here are some, which I remembered because.. My memories aren't that good. (I'll break it down from the first arc to the last)

- **Daily Life Arc** -

\- The 'Ryuuichi is a demon never cross him or you'll  _die_ ' thing was.. Well, unplanned. I've never expected myself to write that one but I guess I ran out of ideas. Ryuuichi getting into Archery and Chess club wasn't in the plan as well... As well as Ryuuichi being a genius in studies. Seriously, I've been wondering if I've made him a bit too powerful in many aspects...

\- I kept forgetting about this every. Single. Time I write a chapter. Ryuuichi is referred as Shiro while Yuuichi as Shiroki.

\- Hibari. Goddamn Hibari. I just can't seem to understand why I had him allowing Ryuuichi to be chummy with him. Why?! I had originally wanted them to get closer after some times but- Ugh.

\- Gokudera helped by Ryuuichi  _through_ the bloody internet? Oh goddddddd--- I was really running out of ideas there. Dammit. Similar to Hibari, I wanted them to get closer after some times, which would create an argument and fight between them during the future arc and blah blah blah and this- *sigh* AND WHY DRAKE I CAN'T EVEN- I don't get my brain sometimes.

\- Dino, Dino. Okay, I admit, I at first wanted to have Ryuuichi getting into some sort of love triangle with Dino and Hibari, and I just couldn't- Like, the second after that thought, I was cringing. Somehow.

- **Kokuyo Arc** -

\- I don't know why I had Ryuuichi get kidnapped there, but whatever. It went well.

- **Varia Arc** -

\- Ryuuichi bumping into Shoichi.. Well, if I remember correctly, I didn't exactly wanted that to happen..? I didn't know how to make them meet each other before the Future Arc, and this popped out. One of the things I'm satisfied with.

- **Future Arc** -

\- Sooo, the cases. The white one was passed to Shoichi, containing the box weapons. The black one was left with Ryuuichi and placed in the base.

\- TYL!Ryuuichi has three rings,  _supposedly_. One for Vongola, one for Cavallone and one is the Historian's. However, since he wasn't supposed to be the one unsealing it, he knew what to do. He sent it to the past and break it like half like how the Vongola Rings can be broken into two, and sent it to Tsuna's and his old house separately.

\- The 6 Mammon-chained rings were supposed to be rings with all the different elements minus the Sky ring. I was probably still wondering what flame Ryuuichi has during that time. Prob. I ended up not writing about it..? Yep

\- This arc has a  _ **lot**_  of loop holes and everything I can't even-

\- Giotto had did the finger thing to Ryuuichi's forehead wasn't sealing his flames or anything. It was.. How to say, the mark of the beginning of the Trial? I guess?

\- The 'Kick his ass' thing from TYL!Ryohei on chapter 21 was words from TYL!Ryuuichi, whom had said it before departing from Italy to join Hibari in his.. Research of sort.

\- Ryuuichi didn't tell anyone about the tracker in Chrome's bag. He was, peeking at it to confirm if it was there when Hibari popped out and saw it.

\- KILLS! Okay this has something to do with the Shimon Arc, but Ryuuichi's first kill was said to be in the Future era. Apparently, after all the cluster of chaos, Ryuuichi realized that his first kill was when he was ten. Apparently.

\- *cough* I admit, I  _kindda_  wanted Ryuuichi to have wings at this point, but then it contradicts with  _everything_  so I ended up not doing it.

\- The first box weapon Ryuuichi get from Shoichi is something Tsuna and Dino had planned. Even TYL! Ryuuichi didn't know if it, I guess..?

- **Arcobaleno Trial Arc** -

\- I've totally forgotten about this but in chapter 24, I had mentioned of a best friend of Ryuuichi's in his past life, didn't I? Well, apparently, that's another friend, not Amemori.

\- In the same chapter, a stalker was mentioned. I had forgotten who it was supposed to be, but I think it's the first Generations.

\- Okay so I've half the mind to actually write about the Arcobaleno giving Ryuuichi a separate trial at some point, but that would meant all of them know something. So, down the ditch it goes.

\- About the memories Ryuuichi had gotten in this arc, which were all Caelum's, was supposed to be sealed forever until Aria went and unseal it. Actually, it was Sepira who sealed it. And it was also Sepira who told Aria to unseal it. Why, Caelum didn't know. He didn't want to know.

- **Choice Arc** -

\- Byakuran, this freak. How should I say, he was interested in how Ryuuichi from each parallel world knows what he planned and was always unfazed by everything. Even Byakuran didn't know anything. He probably wanted to unravel what's in Ryuuichi's mind, and probably do a few mental experiments on him... (He's like a five years old getting a new toy)

\- This is a bit spoiler of sort, but Ryuuichi's flame being flammable to contradict with Caelum's flames, which on most occasion felt colder than normal flames...

\- In this arc, TYL!Ryuuichi and Ryuuichi are somewhat a separate identity. Since TYL!Ryuuichi would be of a parallel world, and a world Ryuuichi wouldn't go down, they're written as separated people.

- **Inheritance Succession Arc** -

\- Yes, all of the First Generation knows about Ryuuichi's stuffs. Loads of it, actually.

\- Their tests for him wasn't combat, or anything, I believe you all realized. It was more of wanting to.. Unlock him from his inner turmoil? One that he didn't know he has. Ryuuichi is.. those who doesn't know what he really feels or wants, unless it made sense.... Let's just say their test are more on the spiritual side.

\- Actually, I planned to have three tests for Ryuuichi from three group. One is from the Arcobaleno, who was unaware of it. The other one was from the First Generation. The last one was from Caelum himself, but it was more of a Q&A session rather than test.

\- The first time Amemori appeared was in chapter 35! I'll get back onto him later.

\- Knuckle was quite attentive of Ryuuichi was because, reasons. Caelum, probably.

- **Future Final Battle Arc** -

\- Kuro and Shiro! I had no idea why two but yeah! As you know, Kuro is the cloud element's and Shiro's the sun's. Since they're from the same box, they need two flames at once. If injected with only cloud flames, Kuro'll be stronger and more protective of Shiro who'd be weaker and vice versa if injected with only sun flames.

\- Ryuuichi's mistake when he opened the box was that.. He injected cloud flames only. Well, he technically can't use two flames at the same time at that time. He... Well.. Got scratched and bitten and such when he tried to pacify Kuro.

\- Byakuran knew of Ryuuichi was because the Giudizio and the Millefiore had a meeting before in the canon parallel world. TYL!Ryuuichi was indifferent towards him and was the least bit scared of him. It was then he knew that his parallel selves had met other Ryuuichis as well, but all of them was the same as this one. It intrigued him a lot. Maybe a bit too much.

\- Yuni knew more than her mother about Ryuuichi was because to me, she represents Sepira's reincarnation, who was one of those who knew of the First Historian personally. Yuni had dreamed of him before. Ryuuichi told her about his secret wasn't because he needed an outlet or anything. He told her because he wanted her to realize that despite what she was going to face, there'll be lots of things waiting for her, even if she were to die. Fate, after all, exists.

\- As I've mentioned before, Ryuuichi's flames... Doesn't exactly course through his veins like how it usually should be. His flames are locked in his core, more like his soul. When the absorption of flames between Ghost and Tsuna happened, they almost sucked his soul out. Like Dementor. Yeah. So when he overexerted himself, he literally sucked dried his own soul.

\- Caelum, Ryuuichi and TYL!Ryuuichi, although are people of the same soul, represents by different entities. Caelum's one is easier to explain since he's dead and is from 400 years back. TYL!Ryuuichi and Ryuuichi, they're of the same person yet not. Ryuuichi is Ryuuichi and TYL!Ryuuichi 's TYL!Ryuuichi. Which was why Reborn had mentioned that they're  **three**  different person.

\- " ** _Through the eyes, nothing but truth is seen. Through the memories, the past are remembered. Through the soul, the power shall only be the one and only the one_** _._ " These sentences are said by Caelum. The first one meant that the Historian can identify the truth with their eyes. The second one meant that the memories of the Historians are not forgotten, but either sealed or, well, recorded somewhere else. The last one meant the Historian's power is one soul's only. No other.

\- I noticed a mistake of mine here. I've mentioned that Caelum traveled with Alaude after Giotto stepped down but in the last arc, Caelum disappeared on his own. I'm going with Caelum disappearing, but I'm not going to change anything.

\- Caelum's memories are sealed by Sepira but Caelum himself still has the memories. The memories were sealed so that the next reincarnation of the Historians wouldn't remember anything. And this goes on, where each time the Historian reincarnates, the memories of the previous lives are sealed.

\- It was reckless of Ryuuichi when he healed everyone at one go in chapter 44 {The Truth}. As I've mentioned, his flames is his core and soul. He could potentially die if he used his flames too much.

\- The Historian's ring was carved with the word 'The eyes of the selfless' was there ever since before Caelum got the ring. (Caelum himself don't even know why it was there and why those particular words.)

- **Inheritance Ceremony Arc** -

\- In this arc, Ryuuichi did basically nothing. Case close. (Not)

\- Caelum met Cozart years after he joined Vongola, and a few months after Giotto met Cozart for the first time. He could tell that Cozart is similar to Giotto, so he personally decided to be allies with him.

\- Originally, instead of a collar that locks off Ryuuichi's voice and flames, I had intended for Vindice to kidnap him to the Vindicare prison. But then, I was wondering how was I going to go with the flow if that was the case so I used the collar in lieu of the original plan.

\- The glow beside Daemon when he revealed himself for the first time in this arc was Elena, everyone got that, right?

- **Curse of Rainbow Arc** -

\- In the first chapter of this Arc, Kawahira mused about one of his kind with Cloud flames. Little did  ** _everyone_** knows, the Cloud has connection with  ** _everything_**.

\- Ryuuichi dislike Checkerface, but he has nothing against Kawahira.

\- Ryuuichi wasn't unsatisfied with his height, but he legit is jealous of Dino's height- and when Reborn fully grown back to his original age, Reborn's height as well.

\- Okay! I admit, I've no idea what Kuro, Shiro  _and_  Sora's cambio forma be. Like goddamit I've no idea at  _all_. Sora can grow twice or trice his original size  _and_  turn into a gun but that is really  _really_ rare. Kuro and Shiro are more flexible, turning into any kind of weapon Ryuuichi needed as long as they're in pairs. Once, the three box weapon merged together into a sniper gun, which was too overpowered. (Reborn liked it when they did that though.) (Actually, they hardly change anyway. Ryuuichi didn't like the thought of them possibly injured for some reason.)

\- In the last chapter of this arc, where Ryuuichi finally revealed his secret, I planned to involve literally  _everyone_  in the cast but it was already difficult to write more than two characters at once. Writing more than two  _dozen_  of them? Impossible for me.

\- At some point, I've forgotten that Yamamoto should be called as Takeshi by Ryuuichi.

- **Trapped Arc** -

-Now as all of you know, this is an additional arc, mainly about Ryuuichi's life. It sets around the end of November til the mid of January. With a new cast! Amemori Hibiki!

\- I admit, when I started writing this arc, I wanted Amemori to be the antagonist and with all the sobs and tears for Ryuuichi but then I'm just like- Okay I've fallen for this character enough to not kill him off lastly.

\- In the second chapter of this arc, 'Locked', Ryuuichi was supposed to, well, you know, run away and such from Amemori after knowing that he was Alex but because I needed the explanation of how he managed to pop into this world, it was hard.

\- Amemori's case was slightly different from Ryuuichi's.  _Supposedly_ , even if his soul belongs in another world, he shouldn't be able to realize that and actually travels to his rightful place. Which was  _why_  he could see and feel the presences of what should be nonexistent. Which was why those who can see things exist. But  _since_  he was able to feel Caelum's presence, and managed to actually remember Ryuuichi's past self even after his memories was erased, he was able to be brought to his rightful world.

\- Coincidentally, KHR world. Caelum was exasperated towards Fate's humor.

\- Amemori hated Hibari at some point. I think everyone knows why.

\- In the beginning, Amemori still sees Ryuuichi as his past self. Stuck in the past, eh.

\- Hm, Ryuuichi getting into an accident  _wasn't_  exactly the plan? So was the amnesia part, which came along with the accident idea.

\- And then Mukuro gets involved.

\- Kuro, Shiro and Sora were all hostile towards Amemori at first. Hm hm hm.

\- Okayy! So there's a few chapter which mentioned about Amemori's eyes glinting in red, no? Welllll, supposedly should be consumed with rage and betrayal at the fact that Ryuuichi left him and broke the promise, which kindda made him a bit coocoo. I initially wanted him to kidnap Ryuuichi after the accident, since he was jealous of Hibari and blah blah blah. And then I wanted Ryuuichi to be forced to kill him. It didn't happen.

\- Now, with that alone, the red eyes thing could only be explained that he had storm flames as secondary flames. *sigh*

\- And somehow, because Ryuuichi knew that something was wrong with Amemori, he silently decided to ask Mukuro to seal his memories, hence the amnesia. With that said, Mukuro was  _supposed_  to play a rather important part but *shrug* Which would be the one to unsealed memories the moment Amemori revealed his true motive or some shit.

\- Cue sorrow from Ryuuichi for losing Amemori, and then cue Hibari swooping in and pick him up.

\- I honest to god I wanted to write that but I lost the idea and the motivation for it at  _some_  point.

- **Miscellaneous Arc** -

\- Another extra arc. Bits and pieces of Ryuuichi and the others' lives, a lot random ones but important at some point. Like, Ryuuichi meeting his in-laws for the first time. Hurm hurm. And him collecting the rest of the Giudizio members.

\- Hibari range from In-Character and Out-Character all these time I can't even-

\- I wrote Ryuuichi and Hibari taking naps together quite a lot of times, I realized. I don't know, it's just too cute and too many ways to write it.

\- Ryuuichi practically owns more than three turtlenecks by this time (aged 19 and counting) and wore them often. We can all guess who was the cause of this. *cough*

\- Okay so 1861 got engaged at  _some_  point. (Chapter 80, number 191)

So this is it! *sigh* Going through 80 chapters and trying to remember the original plot is seriously tolling. Oh well.

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NEXT! The random things!

\- Hibari and Ryuuichi's ship number is 1861.

\- Hibari may or may not had graduated from university with a Master in Law course.

\- The Giudizio mansion-slash-headquarter is located in the outskirt of Sicily, right next to a forest. In a sense, located in between where Cavallone and Vongola are located. Giudizio remained small for years. Apparently, after Amemori as the last member who joined at 25yo, there wasn't anyone else who joined, leaving the organization with the permanent number of nine.

\- Giudizio mainly does researches and odd jobs for allied Famiglia or any other organization. Current allies; Vongola (Including CEDEF and Varia), Cavallone, Tsuki-kumi (Yakuza, Hibari Clan), Arcobaleno, Shimon, Vindice (?), Carcassa, Bovino, Millefiore (Gesso and Gilgo Nero), Pio (Mentioned in chapter 78).

\- All member of Giudizio speaks English most of the time, slipping into other language at times. The only person who can say anything without Ryuuichi understanding what it meant would be Yura. Some of them learned Japanese at one point and of course, all of them took up Italian.

\- Even after ten years, Ryuuichi's still scared of horror movies, but developed a tolerance for horror books.

\- Reborn may or may not had developed an unhealthy obsession towards Fon.

\- Millefiore is currently led by both Yuni and Byakuran. They had reached a compromise at some point and if anything, Tsuna would help.

\- Somehow at this point, Eliot had turned into Ryuuichi and Hibari's son. He even, at  _one_  point, called Ryuuichi 'papa' for shits and giggles. *cough* Hibari was called 'Mama' until he forcefully change it.

\- Sakura, Kei, Yue and Mamoru were so damn happy when they met Eliot for the first time and immediately deemed him as their grandson even though Ryuuichi had never adopted him and denied everything about them being their son. (Which wasn't convincing enough because he not so  _secretly_  took Eliot as his son.) [Hibari didn't help and went along with it.]

\- Fun fact= Hibari in fact did got adoption papers for them both. Ryuuichi just didn't know how to react to that and hid in Tsuna's office for the whole day. (He had signed in after much convincing. Not that he didn't like Eliot, love him, in fact. Just being insecure of himself.)

\- Reborn officially became the godfather.

\- In the span of 5 years in Italy since he was 18 to 24, Ryuuichi managed to travel half of Europe, half of South East Asia and Canada at some point. (More like a touch-and-go travel.)

\- Once they managed to teach Eliot up to first year of mid-school education level by the time he was twelve, Ryuuichi enrolled him into a civilian middle school much to everyone's dismay. (But they compromised since it was better than the first idea; letting Eliot live with his parents and study in Namimori until he graduate from high school.) He rather not let him study in a Mafia school. Eliot will live a civilian life outside, and at home, Ryuuichi and the others would teach him all he need to know about the mafia themselves.

\- And then Eliot brought back an injured stray cat on the first day. According to him, some teenagers were abusing it and had literally fought them. He won, of course, managed to get out with merely a small bruise on his shoulder. Ryuuichi wasn't that pleased when he was called to the school. Hibari couldn't be any prouder. (Ryuuichi made a mental note to never let Hibari influence Eliot more than he should. The others weren't much of a help.)

\- Occasionally, Sora would pop out on his own and went to find Eliot and slept with him. Ryuuichi wondered if Sora liked Eliot more than him.

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Lastly, the last bonus for all of you.

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She stared at Alex. She stared at his unfocused green eyes, pencil unmoving in her hand. She wondered why they were still in school when it was already over for about an hour. 'Ah, right.' She mused a second later. 'Ms Clake wanted this today.' She grunted internally as her fingers automatically twisted the green mechanical pencil.

"Stop staring and start working on it, nerd." She snorted at the nickname and rolled her eyes. "I've already finished it, dork." She bit back, giving him a sharp grin as he looked up with an offended look. "What? And you didn't tell me before I finish this?!"

"Why? So that you can copy? Not a chance." Alex groaned and slammed his face onto the table as she snickered at him. He was sitting in front of her, both using her table since he was the one who turned around to face her so they could finish their work. They had to pass it up today, and both didn't finish it, so they decided to stay back.

It wasn't always she didn't do her work so the teacher didn't say anything about her, except to tell her to pass it up after school. Alex, on the other hand, was scold because, well, he rebels quite a lot, especially towards Ms Clake. Plus, she had an excuse while he don't.

Alex grumbled under his breath and took her paper just to read the content. "What the actual hell. You weren't even in class when she taught this. How are you able to understand all of this just like that?"

She raised an eyebrow. "It's easy, this chapter. Plus, I went to tuition, remember?"

"Ugh." Alex surrendered with a shake of his head and took both of their papers as he kept his stuff into his bag. "Let's go then. It's getting late." She nodded and kept her stationeries, placing it into her bag. They walked out of the classroom and walked to the teacher's office.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"-and then that idiot actually  _kicked_  the bloody  _dustbin_  into the  _goal_!" Alex rambled. She laughed at the hilarity and tried not roll on the ground, hugging a pillow in her death grip. Her stomach hurt from a that laughing, but she couldn't stop. And she still ended up lying on the floor while trying to regain her sanity.

"Oh- god-! Stop trying to kill me dammit-" She coughed out. Alex grinned smugly. "That's my purpose." She laughed again and pelted a pillow at him. The pillow hit him in the face as he chuckled as well.

"Al!" A muffled shout from downstairs stop their laughter. And then another muffled sentence followed shortly after, but it was incoherent. "What?" Alex shouted back, and got another set of incoherent words. He grumbled under his breath and stood up from the ground. He walked out of his room, and downstairs.

She listened to the muffled voices, couldn't understand any of what they were saying. She hummed and merely laid there. Laughing that much was somehow tiring. Especially laughing like that. It was hilarious, obviously, what Alex had told her, but she realized a beat after that she wasn't exactly laughing fully, or something like that. Perhaps she was, perhaps she wasn't, she didn't know.

Perhaps Alex would know. How to differentiate her laughter just like how she could differentiate his good and bad day with a brief glance. She huffed and closed her eyes, yawning.

It was a tiring day, with all the schoolwork and projects  _and_  the bloody activities. She wouldn't be tired if she didn't participate in any of the activities since it wasn't compulsory, however, but she needed the extra marks. Her grades were alright, but she still needed to be active if she wanted a scholarship for university.

She sighed, wondering why she was trying so hard, wondering who was she trying to prove to. Certainly not Alex, since he had said that she didn't need to prove herself to him. She didn't want to prove herself to him anyway. She had known him since birth, she know him like the back of her hand and vice versa.

Except, she didn't know him like the back of his hand. Nor did he.

Anyway, it was tiring. Really, really  _tiring._

She sighed again and closed her eyes. She fell asleep on the ground soon after.

Alex came back upstairs to see her on the ground, breathing evened out and asleep. He smiled in slight exasperation before moving her onto his bed. She whined in her sleep at the sudden movements but didn't wake up, fortunately. She was a heavy sleeper after all.

He tucked her in and headed to the switch, turning the light off before going out of his room. Apparently, he would have to sleep in the guest room again, and he would have to call her parents that she was staying over, again. He didn't mind, and he was sure she wouldn't mind. She did it a lot of times after all.

He noticed, of course, that she was weary, almost as though she was a veteran of  _something_. Old and weary, yet young and stupid. She wasn't stupid though, well, in a sense. Alex mentally shrugged at that and headed to the kitchen to get a drink.

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She woke up with a jolt, eyes snapping open before it was closed again, opened again. She blinked rapidly, still heavy from sleep despite waking up from a weird dream. She didn't want to sleep again and risk rewinding the damn dream. She felt as though she had saw it before, however.

The empty field, the cold breeze, the lone tree in the middle of it. It seemed  _familiar_.

But she had never saw that place before.

She continued to blink even after calming down and was getting drowsy again. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, huffing. She turned to her side and wondered why the bed felt different. Then she remembered that she was still in Alex's room. She groped around her trousers' pocket to see if her phone was with her, to find that it wasn't. She looked to the night table beside the bed and saw it, along with her hair tie.

That was when she noticed her hair was untied. Grunting, she reached for her phone and see if there was any message. There was one, from her father, apparently. Asking where she was. Alex must have told him that she was staying over if there was no missed call. She ignored the text and opened a few other messages from the group chats. Mundane and boring.

She decided to not go back to sleep and opened a fiction site to continue a story she left unfinished.

It was strange how these fictions managed to enthrall her when most thing can't. Except for anime. Damn anime ruined her life. She loved it. Though, they're all  _weird_  as heck, if she were to give it another thought. Still, she loved it.

Her phone vibrated once, indicating a message. It was from Alex. She raised an eyebrow at that and opened the chat box.

' _Why are you awake?_ '

' _Can't sleep. And I should be asking that question. By the way, why are we conversing through this? We're literally under the same roof._ '

' _Reasons. Now tell me, why can't you sleep?_ '

' _Weird dreams. Giant, tuna-sized fish trying to eat human in a tank. Or something along the line, I think._ ' It wasn't exactly a lie. She  _did_  dreamed of that. Only, it wasn't the one that woke her up.

There was a pause before the reply came. ' _... Should I be worried?_ '

' _Eh, no. Just go to sleep dumbass. Night_.'

' _Cheh. Night idiot._ '

She smiled to herself and locked her phone, placing it on the night table. She sighed and settled back onto the mattress. She stared at the ceiling.

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She had her headphone on, hugging onto a soft, giant pillow as she stared on her laptop screen, grinning all the while. Alex wasn't even thrown off by that sight as he walked into her room, too used to it to even find it strange. She immediately took notice of his presence and paused the video, pushing her headphone off and whirled the office chair around as he sat onto the bed.

"So how was practice?" Alex sighed tiredly and shrugged, rolling his shoulder slightly. "It's as usual. Coach was harsh, however."

"Ah, make sense. The competition is just around the corner after all. Of course he would be anxious." She gave him a wry smile, not exactly pitying. He doesn't know if she was capable of it. She used to be able to- Oh wait, she didn't. She used to sympathize people a lot, and tried to help. She didn't manage to, of course, but she was just a kid years ago after all.

No, she wasn't capable of pitying.

"What are you watching?" He changed the subject, peering at the laptop screen. He raised an eyebrow. "A new anime?" She immediately grinned crazily. "Yep! It's called Katekyo Hitman Reborn."

"Ah, the long series one? I thought you didn't want to watch it." She hummed, leaning back onto the backrest of the chair so much that it tipped backwards. Alex thought she would fall, but she didn't.

"Well, it  _is_  long, somehow. And it was  _quite_  boring at first, the daily life arc. Though, it got more interesting and  _amazing as heck_ after that arc."

"I'm sorry, what arc?"

She blinked. "Oh. There are ten arc in the series, if the Future arc is divided into five sections and added the arcs from the manga. The very first arc is called the Daily Life arc."

This time, he sweated. "I thought you just started watching?" She laughed a little and waved her hand. "Oh, no. I've watched the first arc a few years ago and left it there, never continuing it. I took it up again recently and fell in love with it." He sighed again. "So what is it about?"

He sworn that her eyes actually sparkled more than her thirteenth birthday where he gave her the merchandise of another anime. He smiled, however, as she rambled about the story in a very confusing and tumble-back-and-forth method. (If he didn't know her since birth, he would probably not understand what she was saying.) She doesn't usually talk much, letting other people lead the conversation. Only certain topics were able to trigger her.

Anime is the second major trigger. Fanfictions of the said anime is the first.

"And then Reborn actually dressed up as a bloody pot of plant!" ... Okay maybe she should let him see rather than say it in such a misleading and weird way.

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She stared at her scores with a blank look, as though burning the paper with her eyes. It was her Physics test. She didn't fail it, but her mark definitely dropped from the previous one. A very drastic drop. While personally, she didn't care- scratch that. She cared. She cared so much that it made her day so much worst, not that it was good anyway.

She probably wouldn't care much about it if she wasn't trying to show her parents a good result.

(How many years have she been trying to do that? To make her parents stop 'comparing' her with her sister? She knew that they didn't do it on purpose, but it still  _hurt_. She had long given up. She no longer know why she was trying so hard, who she really wanted to prove herself to.)

She sighed and placed her paper into her file. There was no use, it was done and over. She would just have to do it better on the next one.

'Easier said than done...' She forcefully pushed her thought away and focused on her class, taking notes.

Alex glanced at her in concern, noticing that she was being too hard on herself again. His mark wasn't as good as her, but he wasn't exactly worried about it. He has not that much pressure like her's. (He kept that to himself. If he were to tell her, he would get beaten up by her.)

He turned back to the whiteboard, wondering how was he going to cheer her up because that would be one of the hardest thing to do. Other than deciding what to eat for the day, of course.

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She screeched as Alex ran after her, laughing obnoxiously. Alex was shouting at her, about something she couldn't hear with the rush of adrenaline and the sound of wind obscuring it. Though, one thing she knew was Alex was aiming his water gun at her, soaked from the tip of his hair to the bottom of his toe. Courtesy of her.

She grinned as she remembered aiming the hose at Alex, who was daydreaming and had let his guard down. She immediately ran away when he took his filled water gun and chased after her. But of course, she wasn't an athlete, he was. He immediately caught up and shot her streams after streams of water.

She laughed and slipped, landing on her backside. She didn't stop laughing however, even when Alex had stopped and gave her a strange look. She grinned up at him and jumped at him to the ground. He groaned and immediately wrestled with her. He didn't use his full strength since she was physically weaker than him. Though, he managed to push her off without injuring her.

They panted, coming down from the high. With an exchanged look, they burst out into hysterical laughter.

"Oh god it's so hot! I'm probably going to melt into my shirt." Alex grumbled half heartly, but was still snickering. She laughed at him before sighing, finally calming down. "Hey."

"What?"

"Thanks for being my friend."

He gave her a weird look, but smiled regardless. He ignored the nagging pain inside him as he answered. "Yeah. I'm thankful that you're my friend as well."

Somehow, she had blushed in embarrassment and turned away.

She turned back to blast him with water again.

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"Hey, do you think that if we were to die, would we meet again?" She suddenly asked as she did her math homework, her eyes never left the calculator nor the book. Amemori frowned, not liking that kind of question. She probably didn't notice this but she had something akin to sixth sense. Amemori noticed this whenever she said something strange and it did happen sometime in the near future.

He didn't like what she was currently talking about.

Nevertheless, he still answered. (He always did after all.) "Yes. I wouldn't allow whoever up there to tear us apart." Finally, she looked up and stared into his eyes with an amused smile. "Really, now."

"Definitely. If they wanted to do that, they'll have to get through me." She laughed a little, shaking her head. "I'd like to see you try, honestly."

"What? Don't you believe that I can do it?"

"I do believe that you can, but imagine you going against some kind of god or Satan or something. It'll be a show not to be missed. I want front seat to it, remember that." Amemori pouted and flicked her on the forehead, missing when she inched away just as he did. "Brat."

"Says the one who's clearly younger than me by a few months."

"It's only a few months!" They continued their weird bickering, the conversation left forgotten. It, however, didn't left his mind as it was too worrisome.

He felt that something was going to happen. Something that would take her away from him.

And it did.

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He didn't understand. He  _didn't understand_! Where is she? She had disappeared the night after her sixteenth birthday, without a single damn trace. She wasn't one to run away from home no matter what. She wasn't one who would leave without telling him. She wasn't one who would break their promise!

But it was a fact that she had disappeared.

It was also a fact that no one other than him remembered her. No one, not even her biological family. He tried searching her room, which suddenly, became a storeroom in one night, all dusty and full with boxes. He then searched for his books that she had wrote stuff on. He found many, but none contained her handwriting. None contained her mark that she had left on it.

It was like she suddenly ceased to exist, like she had never existed in the first place.

And then, he started to forget her name. He was devastated that he couldn't remember it, almost hyperventilated. Slowly, he wondered what he was panicking about. Like everything that he was searching for, everything had disappeared from his mind.

And then he saw the glimpse of a ghost, and everything, in a click, returned back to him. The ghost with a blank but curious look became more visible to him. Became more solid in front of him.

The ginger haired man with metallic blue eyes tilted his head at him as he gaped at him from the ground. "You can see me." It wasn't a question but a statement. Alex couldn't answer him, but the man understood.

"You're supposed to forget about everything." That made him snap. Alex literally jumped up and grabbed the man by the collar of his button down shirt and pulled. "What are you talking about?!" He snarled. "Where is she?! What did you do to her?!"

The man remained unfazed as he calmly pulled Alex's hand away. "She simply went to a place where she should be." Alex growled, inches away from punching the man. Ghost or not. "And I'll give you a chance to choose." The man said before Alex was able to. "To go to where you truly belong, or stay here in this world."

"What?"

"Your soul doesn't belong here." The man pointed at his chest. "Which was why you could see me. So here's your choices, stay or leave."

Alex wavered. He wasn't sure if he wanted to. He wasn't sure if it was alright, to leave everything behind. (Like how she did.) He wondered, if he truly doesn't belong here. He didn't know what would be the right choice. What would he choose, as both would turn his world upside down no matter what.

If he were to stay, he would probably never see her again. If he were to leave this world, he might not ended up in the same place as she did. He didn't want that as well.

(He can't imagine not seeing her again.)

The man seemed to read what he was thinking, what he was feeling as Alex's hand started to tremble, loosing it's strength each second. "I.. I-I'll go. I'll leave. I want to follow her." Because without her, he would be incomplete. Without her, he would lose the most important part of him, he would lose his half.  _He cannot live without her_.

He looked straight into those metallic blue orbs and rephrased his words again. "I want to follow her."

The man nodded not a second later, eyes narrowing. "I'll grant you your wish. However," Alex tensed. "The condition for you to leave this world to where you belong, would be that your memories shall be locked. That you'll forget everything about this world."

Alex's eyes widen. "I will.. Forget everything?" 'About her?'

"Yes. Should fate allow, you'll remember everything again. That is, if you ever meet her again."

Fate. Alex didn't believe in it unlike her. He bit his lips. It would be a gamble. And it would be a gamble that Alex was willing to take, as long as he can meet her again no matter how low the chances are.

"Okay."

The man smiled slightly as Alex let him go, backed away a little. He hovered his hand over Alex's chest and he glowed. Alex felt like he was floating, like all his burden, all his weight has disappeared as everything turned into a blur. The last thing he heard before he blacked out was,

"Should fate allow."

And everything  _disappeared_.

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Hibari peppered small kisses on Ryuuichi's nape as his hands glided across the smooth skin of the younger's torso, pressing his back flushed against his chest. He could hear,  _feel_ , the purr from him, loving the sound of it. He felt him snuggled back sleepily against him more, humming in satisfaction.

He rubbed a hand against Ryuuichi's hip before moving upwards, rubbing the bellybutton instead. His other hand caressed his sides, eliciting a small squealed as Ryuuichi grabbed it harshly for a minute before it slacken, Ryuuichi dozing off again. Hibari sucked on his nape, nipping slightly before licking it, moving to another spot.

He heard a whine from the younger before Ryuuichi struggled and turned to face him instead. Almost immediately, Ryuuichi buried his face against Hibari's shoulder, snuggled again as his legs tangled against Hibari's.

Hibari chuckled and kissed him on the head gently, taking in the smell of citrus mixed with tea and something that Hibari could never describe. He pulled him closer, a hand on the back of Ryuuichi's head and another on his back, drawing patterns all over the bare skin, occasionally pressing at the places that he remembered where the beauty marks were.

Days like this where they did nothing but laze around were the best. Days when they forget about the world, forget about the responsibility that weighted them down and absolutely safe from the world, where they heal and pick each others' pieces up, and where they only have each other in their mind and nothing else. It was precious

Hibari loves days like this. He was sure that his lover does as well. "Love you..." Ryuuichi sleepily slurred, voice muffled slightly as he shifted his head a little. Hibari could feel the small, contented smile plastered on the other's face as his lips tugged up as well.

"I love you too, Ryuuichi." If anything, the smile seemed to stretch wider.

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"Where are we going, small animal?" Hibari, eyes covered by a blindfold, asked as a pair of hands guided him somewhere carefully. He heard a small chuckle from his lover as he frowned. "You'll see soon~" Judging on the sing sang tone, Ryuuichi must have planned something. It would either be dreadful, or it would be really pleasant and delightful, no in between.

Hibari didn't know if he should be excited or not. (He chose the latter)

Just as they stepped into what he deducted as a room, a huge room, he noticed the slight drop of temperature. His honed ears picked up the sound of scrapping and immediately knew where they were. "Here we are!" The cloth was taken away as he adjusted his sight. He guessed it right. They were by the skating ring.

"Why are we here?"

"To skate, of course." Ryuuichi snorted and nonchalantly said. He hold up two identical pairs of ice skates, black in color and grinned. "What else could we do on a skating rink?" Hibari was tempted to say what  _they_  could do on the skating rink. At least it wasn't crowded like what Hibari had seen before. And judging from the condition of the rink and everything, they must be by the outskirt of town.

Of course they are.

He was handed a pair and walked to the bench to wear it on. "I never knew you know how to skate." Ryuuichi hummed as he tied his own. "I don't." He paused and stared at Ryuuichi. "Well, not in this world. I used to at least know how to balance and skate a little. Now, I totally can't. Yuuichi was the one who can."

"..." Ryuuichi then added cheerfully. "And I'm sure you know that I hate falling down so be sure to not let me fall down because I'll pull you down as well!"

Hibari wondered if his lover hit his head or something. He sighed but he was amused. "You know I will always catch you." Ryuuichi beamed as his words and slowly stood up, balancing carefully on the skate. He wobbled to the locker slowly, his bag and shoes in hand. He accidentally lost his balance slightly and almost slammed into the wall when a hand grabbed him by the elbow and waist.

He turned to see Hibari staring at him. "Well, it's good to know that you're going to hold onto your promise." He chimed and plopped his and Hibari's thing into the locker before they both headed to the rink, the older holding onto his hand.

Hibari immediately skated in as Ryuuichi grabbed onto the edge, leg trembled a bit. Ryuuichi frowned slightly at the fact that his leg felt a bit like jelly. He wondered why he could no longer skate, but he remembered that his muscles motor are different from his previous ones.

He tested out a bit, try skating slowly as how  _she_  used to. And he slipped.

As expected, Hibari immediately hold him up properly before he could fall on his backside. "Sorry." He murmured and shifted his left leg slightly, looking at the ground all the while. Hibari skated so that he was in front of him, facing him and held both of his hands, prying the one that was gripping the edge off.

"Stop looking down. You'll never skate at this rate." He instructed and slowly skate backwards, pulling him along. "Bend you legs slightly, yeah like that. Ankle, straight." Ryuuichi did as told, looking at his feet a moment before staring into Hibari's eyes.

"Now, right leg first then your left, imagine that you're walking." He shifted his right leg in front a bit and then his left, doing so as Hibari kept saying which leg first as though he had two left leg. Slowly, but surely, he managed to get a hang of it and was starting to skate a little, Hibari kept holding onto his hands.

He probably spoke too soon. Hibari let go and skated a bit further away from him. "Come." He stretched his arms just big enough to catch Ryuuichi if he were too fall. Unfortunately, he was a bit too far because if Ryuuichi were to fall now, he would fall to his face.

Really.

Ryuuichi pursed his lips and slowly did as how he did just now, slowly. "This isn't really that good." The ice was slippery, of course. And Ryuuichi has legs that would unknowingly buckle out of nowhere, even if it wasn't frequent. "God this is-!" His right leg did buckle. Hibari didn't even move as he managed to stay standing, believing that Ryuuichi could do it.

He sighed in relief and continued his short journey. When he finally reached where Hibari was, he immediately leaped into his arms, holding onto him. "I felt like I'm learning walking all over again." He squinted his eyes in annoyance. "And this would mark the third time."

Hibari chuckled and held him by his back and his neck. "Oh? Isn't it fun then?" Ryuuichi's eyes twinkled for a split second as he pecked him on the cheek. "With you, it is."

Hibari's eyes soften and he kissed him on the lips, almost making out right there, right then if not for the very few people in there. They wouldn't care, but it would be troublesome if any one of them decided to approach them and lecture them about having decency or something. Ryuuichi would rather there's no casualties at all.

As they broke off, he noticed the mischievous glint in his lover's greyish blue eyes and paled a little. "Oh  _no_."

"Oh  _yes_." Hibari pulled him and skated at a fast speed, zooming across the ice while dragging Ryuuichi with him. A rather loud yelp was heard as he felt the hand he was holding onto tightened to a point that it actually hurt. He chuckled and continued to speed up even with the protests screamed at him.

He suddenly let go of the hand and turned, letting Ryuuichi barrel straight into him. They fell onto the ice, Hibari holding the shaken Ryuuichi tightly. He laughed huskily as Ryuuichi pouted and punched him on the shoulder, huffing at the brief adrenaline rush. "I caught you, didn't I?"

Ryuuichi looked slightly scandalized before he sighed and smiled. "You did. Thank you." Hibari smiled and pulled him into another kiss, pulling Ryuuichi's hoodie up to cover their faces from public eyes.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shoichi sighed, rubbing his stomach. He was hungry, tired and all he wanted to do was to faint on his bed for a hundred years. He kind of regretted getting into the zone with Spanner and made a RPG game out of nowhere because the latter was  _bored_. Though, he  _was_  satisfied when they finished it. He sighed again and turned a corner, to the library where he left his phone there without realizing when he was looking for something.

He turned the knob of the door and pushed, opening it. He was about to walked in when he spotted two men staring at him. He froze, recognizing them easily. The three of them had a stare-off for almost a full minute until Shoichi mechanically pulled back and closed the door.

And then he broke. He crouched, clutching his head as a maniac look came on. 'E-h!?!' It was Reborn and Fon. Shoichi was casual with them, after knowing each other for so long. But what he saw made him bristle in fear.

There the two men was standing by the book shelves, with  _Reborn_ , pinning  _Fon_ , by it. Like, literal _kabe-don_. Their faces were pretty close to each other and Reborn had a smirk on towards the smiling martial artist when it dropped at the sight of Shoichi spotting them.

He was  _this_  close to losing it at the fact that Reborn and Fon could  _possibly_  be dating because while he had nothing against it, having the  _World's Strongest Hitman_ and  _Martial Artist_  together is practically suicidal. Who knew what kind of chaos would they bring if they really were  _dating_.

"Shoichi?" He peered up to see Ryuuichi staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing there?"

He sputtered incoherently, trying to actually form words, pointing at the library door and doing weird gestures with his hand. If possible, Ryuuichi's arched eyebrow raised higher into his hairline. He shrugged and went to open the door to the library, partly to see what Shoichi was trying to say and partly because he had business in there.

Shoichi screeched loudly when he did. Ryuuichi winced and rubbed his ears. "What the hell?!"

"I would like to ask as well." The redhead jerked at the voice as an amused Reborn peered out at him by the door frame. Ryuuichi stared at Reborn for a moment and looked at Shoichi's reaction and sighed.

"What did you do?" Reborn gave him an innocent look, to which he merely rolled his eyes at it. "I did nothing." The hitman denied, placing his hands over his heart for a good measure. "Honest!" Ryuuichi scoffed in return and walked into the library. "Yeah yeah. Anyway, what is it that you and Fon wanted to talk about."

Reborn smirked at the trembling Shoichi, his hand at the knob. He raised his right pointer finger to his mouth and winked. He closed the door before Shoichi could even react.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eliot fidgeted, a hand clutching the hem of his shirt and another hovering by the door. He bit his lips, wondering if he should bother them so late in the night. They were really tired when Eliot saw them during dinner. They were out on a mission in USA for almost a week before flying back. 

But Ryuuichi said that they would never find him a bother. He nodded and pulled his hand back, going to knock the door, only to hesitate again.

'Still..' Perhaps he should just go find Gilbert or Liu.

Suddenly, the door swung open. Eliot almost jumped off his skin when he realized it was Hibari, with tussled black hair, staring indifferently at him. He looked like he had just woken up from his sleep. There was another lump of human on the bed as well. Eliot pursed his lips, knowing that he had  _actually_  really bothered them.

"What's wrong?" Hibari asked, voice void of emotion but there was hint of fatigue. Eliot looked down, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry for disturbing.."

Hibari stayed silent a little longer, as though contemplating. He decided to ruffle the teal hair instead and pull him in in lieu of saying anything. He guessed that Eliot must had some sort of nightmare and couldn't sleep. He was sleeping when he felt a familiar presence by the door, lingering there and wouldn't leave.

Hesitation was there so he decided to see who it was.

Ryuuichi groggily rubbed his eyes and pushed himself up slightly. "Who..?" He blinked, squinting his eyes to see who it was in the dark room and spotted the mop of teal. He immediately knew what was up and gestured the child over, patting the spot beside him in the middle of the bed.

Eliot seemed to be rooted to the ground until Hibari pushed him towards the bed and picked him up, placing him down. The man himself yawned and climbed in as Ryuuichi put his arms around Eliot, seemly to doze off again. However, the rhythmical pat on his pat on the child's back signified that he was still awake.

Eliot felt the shift behind him before another arm was placed over him, touching Ryuuichi's shoulder, a warm back against his. He blushed a little. He had never experience this. It was nice. He felt safe. Safe from any harm, from the monsters and devils in his dreams. He was really happy as warmth grew on his chest.

Slowly, he started dozing off at the pats, the slow, calming breathing and the comforting heat from the two man, keeping him warm. He fell asleep in their arms just as they did as well, a small, content smile on his face.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi was looking at some files by the shelves of his office when Hibari came in and snaked his arms around his waist. He chuckled when the raven nuzzled against his neck. He didn't mind. He simply hummed in satisfaction, patting Hibari's hands and continued reading through the countless words on his research of the Historian ring. He was curious one day, and decided to ask those whom he deemed knew of the facts about the ring. (Vindice, Kawahira, Talbot.) It seemed like only Talbot and Kawahira knew bits and pieces of it.

Hibari stared at the paper boredly, sulking a little when his lover wasn't paying attention to him. He let his hands roamed a little, tracing the skin of Ryuuichi's arm, placing butterfly kisses on his neck. He felt Ryuuichi jolted at that, only to huff and continue ignoring him. Hibari twitched at that.

He licked his neck and sucked at the one spot that would more often than not send shivers down the younger's spine. Another hand of his was about to sneak into his shirt when Ryuuichi slapped his hands away.

Ryuuichi sighed and put away the report, knowing that Hibari wouldn't let him concentrate any longer. Seriously, his lover could be really childish sometimes. He was about to say something when Hibari suddenly swayed slowly, pulling him along. The hand he slapped behaved and stayed around his waist. Instead of forcing his way, Hibari led him into a slow dance, pressing him back against his chest.

He shuddered a little at the hot breath on his neck, going with the flow. They danced like that for awhile with no music in the background until Hibari turned him around. His arms was still around his waist, pressing him against him. Ryuuichi looped his arms around Hibari's neck instead, smiling as he stared into Hibari's soft, bluish grey eyes.

He let out a small chuckle and leaned in to place a chaste kiss on HIbari's lip before he leaned his head against the base of Hibari's neck, closing his eyes and let himself be swept away. Hibari smiled softly, eyes filled with love as he place his head on the younger's. There was no words exchanged between them as they continued dancing slowly like that. There was no need for words as their heart beat as one.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hibari was contemplating. He stood there, observing, scanning and deciding. There was just too many that he couldn't make up his mind for. Ryuuichi, who was looking at other things as he walked around, noticed that Hibari wasn't following him and turned around. He blinked, spotting his lover by the desk section and tilted his head in confusion.

He walked up to him and asked. "What are you doing?" Hibari turned to him, still having that look of when he was thinking. He stared at Ryuuichi for a moment before he turned back to the office desks. "I'm wondering which of these you'd look best pinned aga-"

Ryuuichi blushed at the spoken aloud words and kicked Hibari right at his shin. Hibari jerked at that and tensed as he gave Ryuuichi a confused look. Ryuuichi hissed at him for being so loud. He could practically feel people looking at them. He groaned and huffed, face still red.

He grabbed Hibari's hand and pulled him away to other sections. "Seriously, we're not here to buy desk today but chairs!" Hibari smirked at that. It has been awhile since he saw Ryuuichi this flustered. He walked faster, matching his pace with the younger and whispered into his ear. "Ah, right." He drawled, amusement heavily laced in his voice. "You prefer the chairs."

Ryuuichi jumped aside and away from Hibari. He gave him the most scandalous look ever, flushed to the root of his hair, neck and ears. Hibari chuckled evilly and simply smirked triumphantly, even as Ryuuichi punched him on the shoulder and stomped off.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Questions from Wattpad]
> 
> \- Tsuna said he liked Kyoko and I'm not sure if Kyoko misunderstood the question or not. It's been pestering me for a while now. 'Like' and 'Love' are two different definitions in my book.
> 
> Ahhhhhh, my friend. I share the same sentimental about this. The small yet huge differences between 'Love' and 'Like', 'Hate' and 'Dislike'. I do apologize for the confusion. True, I admit they used 'Like' when they confessed to each other, but because I personally saw them as not-ready-to-fully-let-their-walls-down. At first, they would be tensed and awkward with each other, since they weren't that used to their new relationship. However, as time passed, they gradually changed the 'like' to 'love'.
> 
> Along with that, (this is what I understand so please correct me if I'm wrong) at first they used 'suki', which most couple used. 'Suki' can mean either 'like' or 'love', and I find that people very rarely use 'aishiteru', which definitely meant 'love'. Kyoko and Tsuna were definitely in between 'like' and 'love' until Tsuna, out of nowhere, blurted out 'aishiteru' that they changed it. 
> 
> So this is it! It has been quite a journey, I'd say. A fun and rather educational (for me) journey. Finally, this story ends. I've mentioned this various of times, that I'm sad that it ended, but what story does ends? Perhaps our own stories, our lives. Thank you very much for putting up with me for all this time and I really, really hope it brought smiles to your faces. I can never be grateful enough for your supports, thank you! 
> 
> I would tag all of you whom went through this with me and bear with my antics all year through but that would simply be endless, so all of you will be getting a virtual hug from me! *hugs everyone*
> 
> With that, I declare Second Life, complete!
> 
> See you next time!
> 
> [I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]


End file.
